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ANNALS 



• OFe- 



The Great Strikes 



IN THE UNITED STATES. 



-«MM 



A Reliable History and Graphic Description of the Causes and 
Thrilling Events of the Labor Strikes and Riots of 1877. 



I; J 




Hon. J. A. DACUS, Ph.D. 

Late of Editorial Staff St. Louis Republican. 



ILL US TMA TED. 



PEOPLE'S EDITION. 




\\ 



A Reliable History and Thrilling Description of the Causes and 

Events of the Great Labor War of the United States 

are to be found in the Twiely New Book 



ANNALS OF THE 

GREAT STRIKES! 






By fV J. % P/ACUS, pH. J. 

Late of the Editorial Staff St. Louis Republican. 



The American people have passed through a crisis of no mean magnitude, and have once more 
demonstrated their capacity for self government. These great labor strikes are significant, and 
should awaken the profound reflection of the whole people. 

The author of " Annals of the Great Strikes," has been for years a student of the tendencies 
of American Society and Politics. He treats of the causes of which lead to the strikes, and 
suggests remedies for existing evils. The book is written not in the interests of capitalists, nor of 
laborers as distinct classes, but in the interest of a true social science, which seeks to establish 
harmony and sympathy by uniting all classes in efforts toward progress, peace and prosperity. 

But the chief design of the book is to present in a concise form, a complete record of the causes, 
inception, progress, action and decline of the Great Strikes in the year 1877. Every person in the 
United States should possess themselves of a copy. The subject treated will form the basis of 
discussions in Congress, in the State Legislatures, on the Platform, in the Pulpit, and in the 
Lyceums, for several years to come. We have only experienced a slight effect of causes which are 
still in active operation. A Greater Shock May Come / The experience of the past is 
always valuable in dealing with contingencies that may arise. No citizen should be without this 
book. It furnishes all the facts, and any one is at liberty to make his own deductions. A concise 
account of the strikers from the day they stopped the trains at Martinsburg to the final collapse 
of the International Cause, and dispersion of the strikers in all the cities, is a desideratum to 
every man. Such is the book we offer. 

The book will be illustrated with a portrait of Robert M. Ammon, the leader and manager 
the strikes on the Pennsylvania Central, and Pittsburgh and Ft. Wayne Railroads, also many full 
page illustrations giving correct representation of events and the destruction caused by the rioter 
at.Baltimore, Martinsburg, Pittsburgh, and other points in the United States. 

"THE GREAT STRIKES > > is comprised in one large i2mo. volume of about 50c 
pages ; printed on fine heavy paper made expressly for it, and illustrated by new, full-pag< 
llustrations, and substanially 

Bound in English Cloth, Rack and Side in Black and Gold, - - $1.75 

Popular Edition, Paper Cover, - ..... 1.00 

It is sold by subscription, and can be had only through our duly appointed agents, or b\ 
addressing the Publisher. A copy of this book will be promptly sent postage prepaid by us 
on receipt of price, when an authorized agent is unknown to be in the vicinity. 

For Address see Title Page of this Book. 



\ 




i 






ANNALS 



OF THE 



GEE AT STRIKES 



iisr t:e3::e uk"iteid states. 



A Reliable History and Graphic Description of the Causes 

and Thrilling Events of the Labor Strikes 

and Riots of 1877. 



1 



ILLUSTRATED 



Hon. J. A. DACUS, Ph.D. 
Late of the Editorial Staff St. Loztis Republican , 



Chicago : 
L. T. PALMER & *C0. 



, DEC 2-1886>- 



v/a|h!N3\. 



Philadelphia, W. R. Thomas: 
St. LoUis, Scammei.l & Co.: Cincinnati, W. S. Forshee & Co. 

1S77. 






COPYRIGHTED. 

L. T. PALMER & CO. 

A. D. 1877. 



Geo. J. Tnus & Co., 
Printers. 



Kingsbury & Wilson, 
Binders. 



* 






fSH 



PREFACE. 

To collect and arrange the facts and incidents con- 
nected with the history of the great labor strikes in this 
country, is an undertaking of so much importance that 
it must commend itself to the favorable consideration of 
the American people. The interest in events of the 
nature and character of those treated of in the following 
pages cannot prove to be ephemeral. An epoch in the 
history of the nation is here marked, and from it will be 
•dated the beginning of political discussions, and social 
movements which are destined to enlist the profound 
.attention of thinking minds throughout the civilized 
world. These events are phenomenal. The world is 
witness to a spectacle, the like of which has never before 
been presented. A Republic still regarded in the light 
■of an experiment, having lately terminated a long and 
fierce sectional conflict by engaging in one of the great- 
est wars of modern times; having achieved order, recon- 
ciliation and peace between all sections, having demon- 
strated the greatness and magnanimity of the people ; 
having extorted from the enemies of liberal institutions 
acknowledgements that self-government was a possibility, 
having accomplished all these things — this Republic sud- 
denly startles the world; drowns the noise of strife on 
the Bulgarian plains, and among the Balkans, and draws 
exclusive attention to a social emeute on this side the 
Atlantic, unparalleled in the annals of time. Astonish- 



IV. PREFACE. 

ing as. was the suddenness of the movement, yet no less- 
surprising was the facility and rapidity with which law. 
order, and profound peace were restored. 

In this uprising of the laborers against their employers,, 
aggravated as it was by the early appearance on the 
scene, of a vast number of theorists, and dangerous 
characters, who sought their opportunity, during the 
reign of general tumult to subvert the very fundamen- 
tal principles of social order, we have gained a deeper 
knowledge of the character of the American people. 
Sudden as a thunder-burst from a clear sky, the crisis 
came upon [the country. Hundreds and thousands of 
men belonging to the laboring classes, alleging that they 
were wronged and oppressed, ceased to work, seized 
railroads, closed factories, founderies, shops and mills, 
laid a complete embargo on all internal commerce, 
interrupted travel, and bid defiance to the ordinary 
instruments of legal authority. Commencing at Camden 
Station, Baltimore, and at Martinsburg, West Virginia, 
in three days the movement had extended to Pittsburgh, 
Newark, Ohio, Hornellsville, Fort Wayne and a hund- 
red other points. State militia forces were encountered 
and repelled. The whole country seemed stricken by a 
profound dread of impending ruin. In the large cities 
the cause of the strikers was espoused by a nondescript 
class of the idle, the vicious, the visionary and the whole 
rabble of the Pariahs of society. No standing army was 
available, and these classes absolutely controlled the 
country. 

During these few days of the reign of the strikes, it 



PREFACE. V. 

seemed as if the whole social and political structure was 
on the very brink of ruin. From the Atlantic to the 
Pacific the laws were momentarily subverted ; officers, 
eivil and military were for the time being powerless to. 
compel or restrain, yet the outrages committed, such as 
might have been expected in a time of high excitement 
and the reign of passion, were confined to a few great 
cities, in which a large element of vicious and idle per- 
sons were to be found. 

These are features of the Great Strikes which awaken 
our profound attention, and demand that the record be 
made up while the events are still fresh in the minds of 
the people. No better testimonial to the sterling worth 
of the American character, no better evidence of their 
fitness for self-government, can be produced than is fur- 
nished by their conduct in rising in majesty in favor of 
law and order, during the Nation's trials. The Ameri- 
can people are emphatically upholders of the principles 
of social order and the reign of law. For these reasons 
the author has undertaken the onerous task of gathering 
up the scattered facts which go to make up the complete 
history of the Great Strikes. 

In the preparation of this work, the author has 
experienced no little-difficulty, not from the paucity, but 
from the plethora of materials at hand. Care has been, 
exercised to separate fiction from fact, and every possible 
endeavor has been made to secure accuracy in statements 
and details. In all cases, where it has been possible to do 
so, a careful investigation as to the correctness of alleged 
facte has been gone into by the author. It is believed, 



VI. PREFACE. 

that in all essential respects, the volume herewith pre- 
sented for the approval of the American public, is accu- 
rate and reliable. The brief time which has elapsed since 
the events treated of occurred, has of course rendered it 
impossible to make a thorough investigation of minor 
incidents. The author does not claim for his work a 
high standard of literary excellence, but the claim is 
prefered, that it possesses real historical value, inasmuch 
as all the principal events of the critical period through 
which the country has passed are here concisely and 
truthfully recorded. For these reasons the work is com- 
mended to the consideration of an appreciative public. 

J. A. DACUS. 
St. Louis, Mo., Sept., 1877. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Relations Between Capital and Labor, 

Condition of the Country — The Duty of Patriotic Citizens — The Mis- 
takes of Capitalists — The Faults of the Workingmen — The Poor 
Man's Hopes the Rich Man's Protection — The Conditions of 
Social Order. - - - - - - 15 

CHAPTER II. 
Strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 

A. Circular to Employes — Ten per cent. Reduction in Wages An- 
nounced — How the News was Received — A Delegation of Em- 
ployes — The Officers of the Road will not Reconsider — Com- 
mencement of the Strike — Trains Stopped at Martinsburg — 
Trouble at Baltimore. ----- 27 

CHAPTER III. 
A Day of Dread. 

The Strike Continues — The Governor of West Virginia Confesses his 
Inability to Suppress Disorders — An Appeal to President Hayes- 
Proclamation of the Chief Magistrate — Military Companies Dis- 
armed by Strikers — The Third Day of the Strike, and the Alarms 
it brought — Wide Extent of the Disorders — Portentous Mutter- 
ings. ------- 36 

CHAPTER IV. 
Culmination of the Crisis. 

Soldiers and Strikers — Fears Realized — From Baltimore to Chicago — 
Pittsburgh Affected — The Pennsylvania Railway Embargoed — 
Intense Excitement Throughout the Country — Successful Emis- 
saries—Immense Extent of the Labor Movement. - 46 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 
Riot and Ruin. 

Progress of the Great Strikes — Social Disorders — "The Dangerous 
Classes" — The Commune Comes Upon the Scene — Intense Excite- 
ment Throughout the Country — Dealings with Death in Baltimore 
— Alarm Throughout, the Country — Proclamations and Orders. 

56 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Tocsin Sounds i?i Baltimore. 

The Gathering Mob — Thronged Streets and Angry Men — Terrible 
Exhibition of Passion and Temerity — Soldiers Stoned by Rioters — 
Sharp Volleys and Sudden Deaths — A Night of Terror — Alarm 
Bells— The Torches' Red Glare. ... 67 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Internationalists. 

The Baltimore Mob Not Railroad Strikers — The Communistic Tend- 
ancy in American Cities — Destructive Theories — Danger to the 
Country Threatened — An Element to be Feared — Some Account 
of the Origin of the Association. - 76 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Reign of Anarchy. 

The Commune in Baltimore — A Paralyzed State Government — An 
Appeal to the President — A Perilous Situation — Apprehensions 
felt by the Administration — Another Riot — Clubs and Skulls — 
A Mob of Twelve Thousand People — From the Atlantic to the 
Mississippi — The Country in an Uproar — Precautions — Unparal- 
leled Demonstrations. ----- '88 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Trouble in Pennsylvania. V 

Beginning of the Strikes — The Cause Assigned — The System of 
11 Double Headers "— Formidable Character of the Movement — 



CONTENTS. 9 

Freight Transportation Suspended — No Concessions — Measures of 
Repression Taken — Dangerous Indications in Pittsburgh. ioo 

CHAPTER X. 
A Night of Terror at Pittsburgh. 

The Culmination — A Sea of Fire — Death-Dealing Volleys — The Spirit 
of Desolation Lighting the Torch of Destruction — A Horrible 
Spectacle — A Reign of Terror — The Commune Gains a Brief but 
Fearful Ascendancy — The City Sacked by a Howling Mob — An 
End of all Lawful Authority — The Ghouls of Pillage Abroad in 
the Glare of the Devouring Fires — Millions of Property Resolved 
into Smoke and Ashes. - - - - 112 

CHAPTER XI. 
Given Over to Pillage. 

The Great Conflagration — Demoniac Satisfaction — The Reign of the 
Commune — Besieged Soldiers — Abandoned Artillery — The Miser- 
able Retreat — Pittsburgh Given Over to the Mob — Scenes of 
Pillage — Citizens at last Aroused — A Vigilance Committee — Re- 
storing Order. - - - - - - 129 

CHAPTER XII. 

General Movements i?i Pennsylvania. 

Difficulty at Erie — Rioters near Bethlehem — Sunbury Strikers — A 
Rabble at Altoona — Meadville Militia — MauchChaunk Characters 
— Lebanon Valley Villianies — Marietta Marauders — Wilkesbarre 
Disturbances — Shenandoah Colliers — Hazards at Harrisburg — 
Scranton Miners — Hazelton Isolated — The Johnstown Mur- 
ders. -.._... 143 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Tumult at Buffalo. 

The Beginning of the Trouble — A Militia Company Arrives — Exasper- 
ated Strikers — Business Suspended — The Railways all Cease to 
Transport Freight — Threatening Outlook — Governor Robinson's 
Proclamation — Military Movements-The Strike Collapses. 154 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Federal Administration. 

Precautionary Measures — The Rioters Declared to be in a State of 
Insurrection — Indications of Trouble in other Regions — Genera! 
Schofield ordered to Washington — Determination to send General 
Hancock to Pittsburgh — The Rule of the Mob to be Overthrown 
by the Friends of Law and Order. - 164 



CHAPTER XV. 

Affairs in Philadelphia. 

The Call for Troops — Gathering the Militia — Anxious Days — Governor 
Hartranft and Mayor Stokely — A Street Riot — Dispersing a 
Meeting — Colonel Thomas A. Scott and the Locomotive Engi- 
neers — Philadelphia a Nicer Place than Pittsburgh. - 182 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The Strike on the Erie Railroad. 

The Strike at Hornellsville — The Road Completely Blockaded at that 
Point — The Demand of the Strikers — Action of the Officers of the 
Road — The Situation at the Home Office, New York — Apprehen- 
sions of Further Complications. - 192 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Reckless Slaughter at Reading. 

The Fourth Pennsylvania Millita at Reading — General Frank Reeder 
Undertakes to Restore Order — Bold Rioters Tantalize the Citizen 
Soldiery — Without Orders They Fire into a Crowd of Peaceable 
Citizens — Thirteen Killed and Thirty-seven Wounded — Not a 
Rioter Hurt — A Boy Horribly Mangled — Five Police Officers Vic- 
tims of the Bullets — A Lady Shot, while Engaged at her Sewing 
Machine — Terrible Anger of the Citizens and Rioters — Threats of 
the Mob — General Reeder's Sworn Statement. - 205 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER XVIIT. 
Jersey Trainmen. ^ 

Threatened Riot at Phillipsburgh — The Trainmen's Strike — Intense 
Excitement at Trenton — Governor Bedle Takes Decisive Action — 
Disagreeable Demonstrations at Jersey City — Militia at Hoboken 
— Governor Bedle goes to Newark and Jersey City — Guarding a 
Bridge at Brunswick — Soldiers Sympathizing with Strikers — The 
Jersey Central Railway — Relieved Soldiers Rejoicing. 223 

CHAPTER XIX. 
New York Agitated. 

The Excitement in the Great City — "The Dangerous Classes " Care- 
fully Watched — Getting Ready for Contingencies — Numerous Regi- 
ments of Militia Ordered Out — No Strikes but Serious Apprehen- 
sions Felt — The Internationals Active — A Great Communistic 
Meeting in Tompkins Square — What They Demanded of Society 
— Gay Times at the Armories — Ready Warriors without Foes to 
Face — Escaped the Danger. - 234 

CHAPTER XX. 
Away from the Metropolis. 

Rochester's Wave of Trouble — A Slight Shock at Albany — Syracuse 
Seriously Threatened — Other Places Experience Some Uneasiness 
The Conclusion of the Blockake at Hornellsville — The Empire- 
State Comes out of the Great Strikes Almost Unscathed. 258 

CHAPTER XXL 
Onward Through Ohio. 

Events in the Buckeys State — An Ugly Mob at Columbus — Marching 
Around and "Shutting Manufactories Down" — Festive Firemen 
at Collingswood — Marching Through Zanesville — The Breeze at 
Newark — Cincinnati's Fortunate Escape — A Mayor Harmless but 
Wise— He Talks Kindly to the Strikers— And They Hear Him 
Gladly— Trouble at Toledo. - 27s 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Insolence in Indiana. 

The Strike Inaugurated at Fort Wayne — Trackmen and Trainmen — 
Indianapolis Taken in — Terre Haute Yields to the Popular Up- 
rising — Miners at Brazil — Mayor Cavin of Indianapolis Indisposed 
to Interfere — Governor Williams not Certain that it is any of his 
Concern Except to Keep the Peace — United States Judges and 
Bankrupt Railroad Receivers — Freaks of the Strikers — They Cap- 
ture a Railroad. ------ 289 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Chances for Chicago. 

The Tidal Wave Reaches the Illinois Metropolis — The Bad Elements 
Restive — The Tramps Marching in by Hundreds — Chances for 
Plunder — The Commune Commences — Boastful Manifestos — Ab- 
surd Demands — The Social A tmosphere Grows Misty — Precaution- 
ary Measures by Civil and Military Authorities — Noisy Demon- 
strations of the Internationalists — Citizens Philip Van Patten and 
George Schilling. - 307 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Pistols and Clubs. 

It Comes at Last — Riotous Roughs — Socialists Serving Satan — A Well 
Organized Police Force — The Military all Ready — Hot Heads at 
Halstead Street — Resisting Arrest — The Police Persist, are Resist- 
ed and resort to Pistols and Clubs — Intense Excitement — A Scene 
of Bloodshed and Death — At the Viaduct — Triumphant Law — 
Roughs Retire — Dead in the Streets — Then Peace. - 327 

CHAPTER XXV, 

Anxious Days Elsewhere in Illinois. 

At the State Capital — Peoria Strikers— Miners in the Southern Section 
— The Braidwood Troubles — Troops Sent Down — Matters at Mat- 
toon — Effingham Idlers — The Trainmen at Many Points — Shutting 
up Shop in Various Provincial Towns — Peace Restored. 343 



CONTENTS. 13 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Blockade of the Great Bridge. * 

Excitement in East St. Louis — Scenes on " Bloody Island " — Council of 
the Trainmen — A Night at Heims Hall — Hite's Thrilling Oratori 
• cal Flight — " Oppressed Labor" — " The Exectutive Committee " — 
Bold Jack Benson — Organized for Business — Across the Great 
Bridge — Trains Stopped — Slight Dissension Among the Strikers — 
Blue Coats in the Early Morning — General Jeff. C. Davis Moves 
Over — Resigning Potentates — Governor Cullom— -General Bates — 
Exemplary Conduct of % the Strikers — The Last Scene. - 352 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Demonstrations in St. Lotus. 
The Strike in the West — East St. Louis sends Emissaries Across the 
Great Bridge — The Workingmen Aroused — The Valley Metropolis 
■ Shaken by a Mighty Wave of Excitement — Marching Mobs — The 
Internationalists — Vox et Prseterea Nihil — Black Bummers — Dis- 
graceful Scenes — The Mob — Demand of the Pacific Railroad Em- 
ployes — Oliver Garrison, General Manager — How he Broke the 
Back-bone of the Strike — Measures for Protection. - 365 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
"The Storming of Schulers Hall." 

"To Arms!" — Down with Lawlessness — The Giant of Communism 
rather Ghostly — Governor Phelps — Mayor Overstolz — General A. 
J. Smith — The Mighty Executive Committee — More Phantom than 
1 Fact — An Important Undertaking — Seven Hundred Armed Men 
— They March to Storm the Hall of " The Workingmen's Party o^ 
the United States " — Scbuler's Hall Captured — The Vanquished 
Commune — A Grand Parade — Prevention better than Cure. 3S7 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Minor Incidents of the Missouri Strikes. 

Interest in the Strikes — Kansas City — The Sedalia Trainmen — The 
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway — Hannibal and St. Joe — 
"Strike Smashers" — The General Tumult — Growing Quiet — The 
Decline — The End — Peace, - - 406 



V 



14 CONTENTS- 

CHAPTER XXX. 

San Francisco 's Problem. 

The Workingmen's Sympathies for Strikers — A Mass Meeting — The 
Hood lums on the Alert — Concocting Mischief — Race Riots — 
Incendiarism — Chinese Wash Houses — The Hoodlum's Aversion 
— Destructive Conflagration — A Vigilance Committee — Chasing 
the Roughs — A Bloody Scene — The Aroused Citizens Crush the 
Mob Spirit — Peace Restored. .... 413 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
The South and the Strikes. 

All Serene in Dixie — A Slight Ripple in Texas — Speedy Restoration of 
Peaceful Relations — "Old Virginia Never Tires" — Southern Men 
Offer Services to Restore Order in Northern States — The Era of 
Sectional Harmony — Law and Order. - 428 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Minor Developments of the Strikes. 

How a Strike was Averted on the Union Pacific Railroad — Concessions 
to the Men — A Settlement at Memphis Tennessee — Declaration of 
the Supreme Council of the Labor Union — Order of Melakhto — 
Rights and Privileges — Sympathizers with the Strikers — The En- 
gineers' Brotherhood at Pittsburgh — Views and Opinions. 466 



INTRODUCTION 



CHAPTER I. 



Relatioxs Between Capital and Labor. 



Condition of the Country — The Duty of Patriotic Citizens — The Mis- 
takes of Capitalists — The Faults of the Workingmen — The Poor 
Man's Hopes the Rich Man's Protection — The Conditions of Social 
Order. 

Republican government in this country, has just been 
subjected to a strain greater than any which our system 
has been before required to sustain. It is true, that 
great armies were not organized to meet in the shock of 
battle as in the civil war between the Xorth and South. 
Nor were powerful sections arraj'ed against each other. 
But the phases assumed by the recent conflicts are far 
more threatening to social organization and political 
stability, than was the terrible contest waged between 
sections from 1861 to 1865. In that collision, the North 
represented the idea of the organic unity of the several 
States of the Federal Government, the South the idea of 
State Sovereignty, but both represented the principles of 
social order, and contended for the reign of law. But 
we have witnessed an uprising of no mean magnitude, 
which represented nothing in common with the funda- 
mental principles of Republican institutions. The 
history of the Great Strikes of 1877, affords materials 
for thought, a basis for the most profound reflections. 



16 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The causes which produced the results, so startling to 
the friends of liberal institutions, have not ceased to 
operate, and as a consequence the records of the events 
connected with the inception, progress and culmination 
of the disorders, must prove to be an interesting study to 
all thinking minds. The very foundations of American 
society have been disturbed; the whole political struc- 
ture has been made to sway to and fro, as if about to be 
overthrown. 

The strength, the fearful power, which stopped the 
wheels of commerce, closed the marts of trade, and 
threatened to engulf all wealth, institutions, social 
organization, — everything in the vortex of ruin, was not 
the offspring of a conspiracy, was not generated by 
elaborate planning, and did not result from mature 
deliberation. And in this very fact, the man of calm 
reflection discovers, not far ahead, the rocks on which 
the ship of State is likely to be driven — on which every 
hope of mankind may be wrecked. If it had been a 
deliberately planned and concerted movement; if those 
engaged in it had exhibited evidence of organization, 
then its failure would have given a better promise of 
enduring peace and order. But the spontaneity of the 
movement shows the existence of a wide spread discon- 
tent, a disposition to subvert the existing social order, to 
modify or overturn the political institutions, under which 
such unfavorable conditions were developed. Some- 
where, there must be something radically defective 
either in the system, or in the manner of its control. 
Such spontaneous. demonstrations by large masses of the 
people, as have been witnessed in the United States in 
the year 1877, do not take place without a sufficient 



RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOK. 17 

cause. To discover that cause and take measures for its- 
removal, is one of the first and most important duties 
required of the patriotic citizen. 

Theories in abundance have been advanced ; oracular 
assertions that this or that measure of the general gov- 
ernment is responsible for the existing unrest, have been 
made ; the convenient talk about shrinkage in values \ 
the failure of the government to furnish the people with 
a sufficient supply of legal tender treasury notes ; the 
payment of the interest on the .National debt ; the pro- 
tective tariff ; the demonetizing of silver, all these have 
been assigned as the cause of " hard times," and to the 
" hard times," as the immediate cause, the scenes described 
in this work are attributed. But are these sufficient to 
furnish an explanation satisfactory to the student of 
social science ? Never before in this country — perhaps in 
no other country in the world — have so vast a number 
of men taken part in riots and strikes for increased 
wages. It was an impulsive, perhaps an imprudent out- 
burst, and certainly it was characterized by violence and 
lawlessness, that cannot be palliated or excused. The 
supremacy of the law is an essential condition of social 
order, and without social order, the right to private prop- 
erty, the right to personal security cannot be assured. 
Social disorganization means political death. With the 
reign of anarchy commence the miseries of the people 
without distinction of class. In the throes of expiring 
society, all alike become victims. 

But social disorders cannot take place in the midst of 
a prosperous community. The alarming movements of 
the present year are the logical results of the condition 
of society. They are but evidences of deep sufferings 



18 THE GEEAT STRIKES. 

among a large class of the people of this country. Some- 
where great wrongs have been committed, and society 
must pay the penalty for crimes. The study of the natu- 
ral causes that govern the rate of wages, is a study of 
the causes that distribute wealth to the mass of mankind. 
.-Capitalists cannot afford to oppress laborers, because such 
oppression endangers their own security. It is a fact 
that in those countries where the highest wages are paid 
we find the highest type of civilization, and a more equal 
distribution of wealth. Where a large majority of the 
people are poor, the few who are rich cannot be assured 
of protection. [It is in the power of those above to lift 
up those below ; but it requires time for the operation 
of moral and natural causes, while it is but the work of 
a day for the lowest to drag down the highest. (The first 
ripple of disturbance to the industry of the country is 
felt soonest by those nearest to destitution, and the prob- 
lem is how to remove that small number from want, and 
thus ensure social security. \ This cannot be done except 
as wealth is more bountifully distributed to them through 
higher wages. The part of wisdom, it seems, should 
dictate such a policy by the owners of capital. The 
American people are not yet ripe for anarchy, because 
perhaps a majority of the adult population either have 
homes, or cherish the hope that they will have homes, 
and because of this interest in the government, they are 
the staunch friends of order, and the upholders of law. 
But neither government nor social order can be maintained 
when the majority of the people are homeless and hope- 
less. The poor man's hopes are the rich man's protection. 
The condition of Mexico may be cited as an illustration 
of the position here taken. A country containing a pop- 



RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR. 19 

illation of upwards of nine millions of souls is owned by 
less than a hundred thousand proprietors. What has 
been the result of this ill-distribution of wealth ? The 
answer is, fifty years of anarchy. [The poverty of the 
masses is fatal to the security of the wealthy proprietors. 
In Mexico wages are at least fifty per cent, less than the 
average in the United States.. That country has sunk 
beneath, even the contempt of the most enlightened 
nations. 

But the evil results of low-paid labor should, be antici- 
pated in good season, before it inundates and overwhelms 
the nation, and destroys every hope of a successful 
republic. 

It is cheap labor, more than any other fact, that most 
endangers our institutions — cheap labor serving corporate 
wealth, intent upon nothing but more wealth. Here is 
where capitalists make the gravest mistake, and the great 
strikes of the present year should be taken as a whole- 
some warning. Capitalists consider their direct interest 
in the cheap labor they hire, and not their indirect inter- 
est in the dearer labor that buys what wealth wishes to 
sell. 

' The number of laborers who can buy, must be large, 
or~many of those who produce to sell will have little or 
nothing to do. Buyers are as important, in order to have 
prosperity, as sellers ; and those who buy are those who 
have something with which to pay. Poverty demoral- 
izes, destroys self-respect, and in time will make the 
honest laborer a dangerous member of society, by lower- 
ing his opinions. And this lowering of the opinions of 
the laboring class with respect to the mode in which they 
should live, is perhaps the most serious of all evils that 



20 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

can befall them. Let them once accept the alternative, 
presented by Henry Ward Beecher, and undertake to- 
exist npon " bread and water," and become contented 
with such a condition, and they may bid a long adieu to 
anything better. It does not require a very profound 
observer to arrive at the conclusion that the best inter- 
ests of society, the interest of the capitalists themselves,, 
require that the rate of wages should be elevated as high 
as possible, — that a taste for comforts and enjoyments., 
should be widely diffused, and if possible, interwoven 
with national habits and prejudices. 

But justice compels to the declaration that such has 
not been the policy of the managers of the great corpor- 
ations in this country. They have persistently sought to 
reduce wages of the laborers, while at the same time 
there has been a gradual increase in salaries paid to the 
managers and their assistants. Thomas A. Scott while 
receiving one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars 
in salaries per annum, for managing property interests 
which in part belongs to himself, cannot very consist- 
ently insist upon a sum less than four hundred dollars 
per annum, as the proper compensation for the services 
of a man whose peculiar emploj^ment requires that he 
must be vigilant, prompt, and constantly exposed to dan- 
ger. Then again, the system of watering stocks of rail- 
roads and other corporations, debars the managers from 
the privilege of pleading a failure to earn interest as an 
excuse for cutting down the wages of labor. Perhaps 
Win. H. Yanderbilt is not able to secure ten per cent, 
interest on the stocks of the New York Central Eailroad. 
But it must be remembered that the par value of the 
stocks of the New York Central Kailroad, exceeds 



RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR. 21 

•eight j- two thousand dollars per mile, or upwards of 
iifty-five thousand dollars per mile more than the cost of 
the road — more than the actual cash investment. It is 
quite possible that Mr. Yanderbilt would have no dim- 
cult y in earning a dividend of fifteen per cent, on the 
actual amount of money invested, and have enough earn- 
ings left to make a handsome dividend to every employe 
of the road. 

And here we find the immediate, potent cause of the 
Great Strikes. Depression in business, but more impor- 
tant still, depression in transportation rates brought about 
by the jealousies and hostility to each other of Thomas 
A. Scott, John W. Garrett, and William H. Yanderbilt, 
rendering it necessary to reduce operating expenses in 
order to "make something," — that is ten per cent, on 
their largely increased amount of stock. The lower 
order of laborers were first to feel the weight of this 
curtailment of income. Meanwhile the higher grades of 
-employes were still receiving salaries not much less than 
were obtained ten years ago, when the whole country 
was enjoying unparalleled prosperity. The higher offi- 
cers of companies received higher salaries in 1876 than 
they obtained in 1866, notwithstanding the immense 
change in values which had taken place. 

The reduction of ten per cent, in the wages of labor- 
ers, which was made by a majority of the railway com- 
panies throughout the country during the first half of 
the year 1877, was sufficient to evoke the earnest protests 
of the men affected by the curtailment of their income. 
Had the reduction on all the roads which have cut the 
wages of their employes, taken effect at the same time, 
it is probable that a general strike would have taken 



22 THE GREAT STRTKES. 

place earlier in the season. But the date of reduction 
was not the same on any considerable number of the 
J roads. Petitions and remonstrances from employes of 
railroad companies were received by their employers,, 
but were wholly disregarded. A feeling of discontent 
was engendered, while the burden of "hard times" 
weighed more heavily upon workingmen. 

The mine was already prepared, a spark only was 
necessary to cause an explosion. That was supplied by 
the action of the managers of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad. The pressure put upon their employes elicited 
the spark, and the explosion followed. Commencing at 
Martinsburg, West Virginia, in less than three hours the 
strike was fully inaugurated, and had already reached 
Baltimore. The line of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
way was completely invested by the strikers in less than 
twenty hours. From the Baltimore and Ohio Railway 
the strikes extended first to the Connellsville branch, 
then to the Pennsylvania system, Pittsburgh and Fort 
Wayne, and other railways. In an incredibly short 
space of time, strikes had taken place in Maryland, 
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, ISTew York, New 
Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, and 
Missouri. Fifteen thousand men were engaged in the 
strikes. -* 

The whole country was profoundly agitated. The up- 
rising had assumed a dangerous aspect. A feeling of 
alarm and dread quickly succeeded the first impulsive 
feeling of sympathy entertained by the masses for the 
strikers. The vast numbers engaged in the strikes 
against the railroads, their apparent determination, the 
general belief that they were well organized and pre- 



RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL ANT> LABOR. 23 

pared, produced a dangerous effect upon the idle and 
vicious classes in all the large cities. Labor unions 
were suddenly aroused into unwonted activity, and dis- 
played alarming vigor. " The Workingmen's Party of 
the United States," which is but another name for the 
" International Association of Workingmen," which has 
caused so much anxiety to the governments of Europe, 
came forth from its shadow T y coverts, and what had been 
regarded as a phantom party, assumed a realistic atti- 
tude that caused a thrill of astonishment and terror to 
fall upon the urban populations of the country. Noth- 
ing to compare with the demonstrations of the Inter- 
nationalists in all the larger cities, by day and by night, 
had, at any time, been witnessed in this country. 

In less than four days after the commencement of the 
strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, no incon- 
siderable portion of the territory of the United States 
was in the hands of the strikers ; transportation was 
embargoed ; shops closed, factories deserted, and the 
great marts which but a few clays before had been so 
noisy, had became silent as " banquet halls deserted." 
Men remembered France, and the scenes of 1789-93, 
and trembled as they heard the tumult increase, and saw 
the mighty masses of strange, grimey men, excited by 
passions, dark and fearful, surging along the streets. 

Then was flashed abroad over the land news of the 
fusilade at Martin sburg, and the conflict in the streets 
of Baltimore. Blood had been shed ! Men wondered 
what would be the final outcome. The prevalent alarm 
was intensified. In many cases State and municipal 
authorities seemed to have been stricken by a paralysis 
of dread. Meanwhile, the strikes were increasing. 



24 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Indianapolis, 
St. Louis, Chicago, and numerous other places began to 
feel the effects of the mighty wave of human passion 
which threatened to engulf all in a common ruin. 

Pittsburgh was doomed to feel the most terrible blow 
from the mob or the Internationals. The news of the 
conflict between the militia and the rabble ; the tempo- 
rary success of the latter, and the immense destruction of 
property which followed, was received by the whole 
country with amazement and grief. The sympathies of 
the masses of the people, which had unquestionably been 
with the railroad strikers, was now withdrawn in a meas- 
ure. Even the strikers themselves felt constrained to 
disown the elements who had made an opportunity of 
their necessity, to create a reign of terror throughout 
the land. The reaction against the strikers, and those 
who claimed to be their allies, was positive and practical. 
Men sprang to arms with a feeling that it was necessary 
to protect the sanctity of their own homes. The spirit 
of turbulence evoked by the strikers must be crushed. 

Such were the sentiments which actuated the men, 
who hastily banded themselves together in companies, 
battalions and regiments, in New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, Illi- 
nois, Michigan and Missouri. Within less than six days, 
an army of citizen soldiers had been created in the states 
named, which in the aggregate numbered more than 
sixty thousand men, armed and equipped, ready for 
service. 

Meanwhile the Internationalists were not idle. The 
railroad men's strikes was made their opportunity. The 
atmosphere of social disorder favored their designs. M. 



RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR. 25 

K. Goldsmith, Secretary of the National Board of Super- 
visors of the American branch of the order, from his 
headquarters in Hartford, placed himself in immediate 
communication with the local Sections, all over the 
country for the purpose of advising and encouraging 
them. Citizens P. Yan Patten and Geo. Schilling, of 
Chicago, who are prominent members of the organiza- 
tion, were also warmly enlisted in the cause of the 
46 Party ;" while in St. Louis, Curlin, Curtis, Cardell, 
Patz, Porter, Cope and Sykora, held daily and nightly 
meetings, to induce the proper degree of enthusiasm 
among the masses of workingmen. In New York, Jus- 
tus Schwab, John Swinton, Michael Doyle, Paul Kaiser, 
Frank Coufal and Frank Bartosek, organized a great 
mass meeting in Tompkins Square, where the principles 
of the Internationalists were elaborately discussed. 

Indeed, the three hundred and sixty-five sections of 
American, German, French, Bohemian and Scandinavian 
Internationalists, located in twelve states of the Union, 
were all active. 

The appearance of this organization as allies of the 
strikers, had much to do in alienating public sympathy 
from that class of the workingmen, who it was believed, 
had a just cause to strike. It is also certain that the 
bold utterances, and audacious demands of the Interna- 
tionalists, stimulated the organization of military forces 
adequate to the work of suppressing all disorders. 

The history of the movements alluded to in these in- 
troductory pages must prove deeply interesting to the 
student of American social institutions. It is well to 
preserve it. Perhaps there may be other and even 
greater strikes, but it is improbable that this country 



26 THE GEEAT STEIKES. 

will ever be visited again by a movement so spontaneous,, 
yet so vigorous and threatening. A great danger Las 
apparently passed. As a nation, we should profit by 
the warning it affords. 



CHAPTER II. 



Strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 



A Circular to Employes — Ten per cent. Reduction in Wages An- 
nounced-*-How the News was Received — A Delegation of Em- 
ployes — The Officers of the Road will not Reconsider — Commence- 
ment of the Strike — Trains Stopped at Martinsburg — Trouble at 
Baltimore. 

In the beginning of July, 1877, a circular emanating 
from the offices of the superintendents of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railway, was sent to all the employes of the 
Company, announcing a reduction of 10 per cent, from 
the wages which the Company was then paying. This 
curtailment of the income of the employes on the road> 
was to take effect on Monday, July 16th, 1877. This 
schedule of wages, according to the circular, reduced the 
pay of firemen from §1.75 and $1.50 per day, to $1.58 
and $1.35 per day, according to the efficiency of the 
men. The pay of brakemen was fixed at a little less. 
One hundred miles was made to constitute a days' run. 
No allowance of time was permitted for delays at way 
stations. 

The reception of this circular created no little ill-feel- 
ing among the railroad men. Groups of them met, and 
discussed their situation. The men asserted that they 
could not sustain themselves on the amount of wages the 
company proposed to pay them for their services. Meet- 
ings of employes were held at various points along the line- 
of the road, and finally a plan of action was agreed upon. 



28 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

A committee was appointed and instructed to confer with 
the officers of the company. Mr. Yice President King 
was appealed to, but declined to hear the complaints of 
the employes. Various efforts were made to procure the 
rescission of the order of reduction. These proved 
abortive. Meanwhile as the time fixed for the order of 
the Company to go into effect approached, the discontent 
of the men increased. At many localities along the 
road, small bodies of men expressed themselves in favor 
of striking. But it does not appear that up to the 
morning of the 16th, any concerted movement had been 
agreed upon by the firemen and brakeman of the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railway. 

The morning of the 16th of July, 1877, at length 
■dawned. Along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road, everything presented the usual appearance. Trains 
were moving ; foundery men, machinists, engine drivers, 
firemen, brakemen, trackmen, switchmen and agents 
were at their posts of duty. The commerce of a large 
section of country was moving over the iron track- 
ways. The officers of the road, too, were at their re- 
spective offices, little anticipating that within the space 
of twelve hours, a strike, such as was never before known 
in the history of America, would be inaugurated along 
the line of that great highway. Intimations of coming 
trouble the managers of the road had had, but they 
trusted that the "hard times," would deter the men from 
carrying into execution any purpose they might have 
formed of deserting their posts of duty on the road. 

The day wore on. The click of the telegraphic instru- 
ments in the office of the superintendents of the 
respective divisions, announced the arrival and departure 



STKIKE ON THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 2£ 

of trains to and from a thousand stations situated along 
a line of more than fourteen hundred miles of railway. 
There was no trouble as yet; and the lengthening 
shadows announced the day's decline. Thr? afternoon 
was far advanced, and the officers of the great railway 
line had already begun to congratulate themselves, 
because the danger of a general strike appeared to have 
passed way. 

But their self-gratulations were doomed to a sudden 
arrest. It was after five o'clock in the afternoon, when the 
announcement was made in the general offices of the 
Company at Baltimore, that a strike of the employes on 
the road was in progress at Camden Junction, near that 
city. About forty firemen at that point quit their 
engines, and persuaded twenty or thirty brakemen to 
join them in deserting their trains. As yet no intelli- 
gence had reached the managers of the road of disturb- 
ances elsewhere. Another force of firemen and brake- 
men were engaged to take out the waiting trains. But 
the trains were not taken out. The freight business of 
the road had been already completely embargoed. The 
trouble at Camden Junction appeared to have been 
easily disposed of, and for a time the officers anticipated 
nothing worse. 

But it soon became manifest that the officers had mis- 
apprehended the nature and character of the movement 
among their employes. Reports came in rapid suc- 
cession from the West, announcing that the railroad men 
at Cumberland, Martinsburg and other stations along 
the line were restless, discontented and insubordinate, 
and that the canal-boatmen had quit work and aban- 
doned their boats. Under these circumstances, all 



30 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

movements of freight over the road practically ceased. 

Meanwhile, the situation at Baltimore was every hour 
becoming more critical. Before six o'clock the box- 
makers, sawyers, and can-makers, engaged in the shops 
and factories of that city, had struck for an advance of 
ten per cent, on their wages, had abandoned their places 
and swarmed into the streets. The demonstrations of 
these workingmen only stimulated the railroad men to 
commit bolder acts. It became evident before the even- 
ing had far advanced that a general strike of railroad 
men all along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio line 
was inevitable. 

At Martinsburg the excitement became very great, 
and the situation was alarming. Late in the evening a 
general strike was set on foot. All freight trains were 
stopped, and brakemen and firemen who manifested an 
intention to continue at their posts, were forcibly taken 
from their engines and trains by the strikers, and com- 
pelled to join in demonstrations against the Company 
they had ceased to serve. At Cumberland the situation 
was anything but reassuring. A considerable number 
of striking trainmen had assembled at that place and 
prohibited any movement whatever of trains, other than 
mail and passenger coaches. At Keyser and Grafton, 
the trainmen had obtained complete possession, and no 
freight trains were permitted to move. 

Before midnight of the 16th, the control of the im- 
mense property of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway 
Company, had passed out of the hands of the officers, 
and was held by the strikers. The disposition mani- 
fested by the recalcitrants at Martinsburg, had become 
so threatening, that Vice President King, of the Balti- 



STRIKE ON THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 31 

more and Ohio road, sent a dispatch to Governor Mat- 
thews of West Virginia, calling upon him to furnish 
troops to protect the interests of the Company. 

Late the same evening, Governor Matthews, sent a 
-dispatch from Wheeling to Captain Charles James 
Faulkner, Jr., in command of certain companies of 
State militia at Martinsburg, to afford the officers of the 
road all the aid and protection in his power. No col- 
lisions as yet had occurred. 

The first act of the strikers involving injury to persons, 
was committed at South Baltimore, at about two o'clock, 
the morning of the 17th. A freight train from the 
West, bound for Locust Point, was thrown from the 
track while passing the gas house switch in that suburb, 
and almost demolished. The cab of the engine took 
fire and some destruction of property ensued before the 
flames were subdued. The engineer and fireman, were 
both severly wounded. No other incident worth re- 
cording occurred during this the first night of the reign 
of the strikers. 

But it was already evident that a formidable move- 
ment of the workingmen throughout the country was 
imminent. Indeed, the greatest labor strikes ever known 
was now fairly inaugurated. Less than ten hours had 
passed since the canal-boatmen, the box makers, the saw- 
yers, the can makers, and the trainmen had definitely 
resolved on quiting their employments, and already more 
than four thousand persons had joined in the strike, re- 
fusing to labor themselves, and determined to prevent 
others from taking their places. But even with the evi- 
dences of the fitness of public sentiment to foster and 
encourage a strike, no one at the close of the first day 



32 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

after the strike began could have anticipated the tre- 
mendous uprising to which the events about Baltimore 
and Martinsburg were but the prelude. 

But, if the developments during the first ten hours of 
the strike, while the movement was yet in its incipient 
stage, were sufficient to engender feelings of uneasiness 
in the public mind, the events of the following day justi- 
fied the sensation of intense alarm. 

Martinsburg, a city of no great extent, occupying a 
romantic site in a valley among the mountains of West 
Virginia, was destined to be the scene of the first real 
conflict betweeri the representative forces of the State 
and the strikers. At an early hour on the morning of 
the 17th, Captain Charles James Faulkner, Jr., Aid-de- 
Camp to Governor Matthews, arrived at the post of duty 
at Martinsburg, in command of seventy-five men of the 
Berkeley Light Guard Infantry. He had been ordered 
to protect that* point by the Governor, who had been ap- 
plied to for aid by Yice President King of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad Company. 

Captain Faulkner at once proceded to the railway track 
and deployed his men as a guard for a West bound freight 
train, which the Railway Company determined to dis- 
patch in spite of the orders of the strikers. The train 
started, and had proceeded nearly to the switch at the 
Company's yards, when suddenly one of the strikers, 
named Win. Yandergriff, ran forward and seized the 
switch-ball for the purpose of opening it to " side-track" 
the train. At this time the train was moving slowly. 
A guard of militia was on the engine. The movement 
of Yandergriff was observed by John Poisal, a member 
of Captain Faulkner's command, who immediately sprang 



STEIKE ON THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 3& 

from the pilot of the engine where he had been stationed,. 
and attempted to replace the switch in order to allow 
the train to proceed. Yandergriff resented this action,, 
drew a pistol and fired two shots at the militia-man y 
one of which took effect in the side of his head. 
Poisal returned the fire, shooting Yandergriff through 
the hip. This firing led to a regular fusilade. A num- 
ber of shots were fired at Yandergriff and he was 
shot in the head and arm. The report of firearms, 
speedily attracted to the spot a great multitude of rail- 
road men and citizens. The excitement was intense. 
The engineer and fireman who had engaged with the 
Company to run the train, fled when the firing com- 
menced. Captain Faulkner ordered the mass of strikers 
to keep back, and commanded them to disperse. 
• This order was received by them with jeers and threats. 
Finding that the engineer and fireman had deserted the 
train, Captain Faulkner declared that he had fully dis- 
charged his duty, marched his command to their armory, 
where they were disbanded, leaving the strikers in full 
possession of the field. The road was now completely 
blocked up with standing trains. The cars were all 
uncoupled, and the links and pins were either hidden or 
broken. 

During the day the force of strikers at Martins- 
burg, was greatly augmented. The citizens of the town, 
the disbanded militia, and the rurai population of the 
surrounding country fraternized with them, and encour- 
aged them in the determination to persist in their 
demands. 

Railroad men from the Chesapeake and Ohio Eailway 
also arrived in considerable numbers at Martinsburg 



34 THE GREAT STRIKES. . 

during the day. At three o'clock in the afternoon it 
was estimated that the strikers and their allies at Mar- 
tinsburg numbered not less than one thousand men. 
The State authorities were powerless. Telegraphic 
messages passed between the Governor and the officers 
of the road. The Governor himself, with the Matthews 
Guards, left Wheeling for Martinsburg, and proceeded 
as far as Cumberland. But he hastily returned from 
that point to the Capital on receiving intelligence that 
the strike had reached that city, and that all freight 
trains were being stopped. The police and con- 
stabulary force of the municipality could afford no pro- 
tection to trainmen who were willing to continue in 
the service of the Company. The two military com- 
panies at Martinsburg, openly affiliated with the 
strikers. Another company of volunteer militia was 
thirty- eight miles from any railroad. The Matthews 
Guards at Wheeling, numbered but forty-eight men, and 
even the loyality of these was not to be depended on in 
this emergency. 

At night the situation at Martinsburg, Cumberland, 
Grafton, Keyser, Wheeling, and indeed all along the line 
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was critical in the 
extreme- The canal-boatmen were with the railroad 
men at Martinsburg, and the citizens all along the line 
were apparently sympathizers. Meanwhile, rumors of 
an alarming character concerning movements among 
railroad, and other classes of workingmen all over the 
country, were circulated in all directions. In the portion 
of country most affected, a sort of dread of impending 
disasters had taken possession of the friends of law and 
order. Lawlessness reigned supreme from the Patap- 



STRIKE ON THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 35 

sco to the Kanawha. The second day of the great 
-strikes closed. The movement had become formidable. 
Men experienced a feeling of intense alarm at the pros- 
pects before them. 



CHAPTER III. 



A Day of Dread. 



The Strike Continues — The Governor of West Virginia Confesses his 
Inability to Suppress Disorders — An Appeal to President Hayes — 
Proclamation of the Chief Magistrate — Military Companies Dis- 
armed by Strikers — The Third Day of the Strike, and the Alarms 
it brought — "Wide Extent of the Disorders — Portentous Mutterings. 



The events of the 17th were of an unusual character 
in this country. The strikers had gone further than 
persons engaged in such movements had been accus- 
tomed to go. In countries where the struggle for life 
is keener than in America, such incidents to a strike as 
an attempt to murder, and the theft of tools and imple- 
ments necessary to conducting a business, are common. 
) But the attempt of Yandergriff to kill the militiaman 
\ Poisal, because he undertook to adjust a switch to per- 
/ mit a train to pass, taken in connection with the de- 
/ struction or concealment of the links and pins, neces- 
sary in the movement of trains, showed the authorities 
.the desperate nature of the enterprise in which the 
strikers were engaged. It revealed the existence of a 
determination on their part to enforce their demands at 
every hazard. The situation the morning of the 18th 
was alarming. The strikers had been reinforced during 
the night at all points by accessions of workingmen 
engaged in other avocations than railroading. They had 
grown bold because they knew they had the sympathies 



A DAT OF DREAD. 37 

of the people with them, especially in that portion of 
West Virginia where the strike had assumed the most 
threatening aspect. 

The Governor of the State of West Virginia, ap- 
prised of the extent of the lawless combination, found 
himself in the humiliating position of complete inability 
to deal with the issue. Powerless to suppress the dis- 
orders, appealed to by the managers of the railroad for 
that protection which he was unable to afford ; harrassed 
by the knowledge that a large portion of the people 
whom he governed were in sympathy with the turbulent 
strikers, and tormented by the evidence that the few 
militia at his command were unfaithful to their duty, 
the position of Governor Matthews was sufficiently dis- 
agreeable. 

The movement had now become so formidable that 
State authority could no longer assert supremacy. 
Under these circumstances, the Chief Executive of the 
commonwealth of West Virginia, was constrained to 
appeal to the Federal Government for protection and 
assistance in quelling the riots which had taken place. 

During the afternoon of the 18th, Governor Matthews 
perceiving his inability to deal with the emergency, 
with no little reluctance, forwarded to the President of 
the United States the following formal appeal for the 
intervention of the federal power in suppressing the dis- 
orders in his State : 

Wheeling, W. Va., July 18. 
To His Excellency R. B. Hayes, President of the 
United States : 

Owing to unlawful combinations and domestic vio- 
lence now existing at Martinsburg and other points 



38 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, it is 
impossible with any force at my command to execute the 
laws of the State. I therefore call upon Your Excel- 
lency for the assistance of the United States military to 
protect the law-abiding people of the State against 
domestic violence, and to maintain the supremacy of the 
law. The Legislature is not now in session, and could 
not be assembled in time to take any action in the 
emergency. A force of from two to three hundred 
should be sent without delay to Martinsburg, where my 
aid, Colonel Delaplaine, will meet and confer with the 
officers in command. 

Henry M. Matthews, 

Governor of West Virginia. 

Upon receipt of this call at Washington, President 
Hayes at once dispatched a messenger for the Secretary 
of War, who immediately answered the summons by 
repairing to the Executive Mansion. A brief consulta- 
tion between them followed. The result was the con- 
clusion that the information contained in the call was 
not sufficiently definite to warrant the President in 
employing the military forces of the United States for 
such purposes. 

It was agreed, however, that the Governor of West 
Virginia be called upon to furnish more definite informa- 
tion, and accordingly the Secretary of War was instruct- 
ed to send a dispatch to Governor Matthews, requesting 
complete information. The Governor's reply showed 
that there were but four militia companies in West 
Virginia, two of which had already fraternized with the 
Strikers at Martinsburg, a third was in an interior 



A DAY OF DEE AD. 39 

county, thirty miles from any railway line, and the 
fourth consisted of only forty-eight men, while the 
Governor estimated the force of strikers massed at 
Martinsburg, at not less than eight hundred men. 

Notwithstanding his reluctance to interfere in the 
matter, the President esteemed the emergency one of 
sufficient gravity to justify him in taking decisive action. 
Accordingly he issued the following proclamation, the 
same evening : 

A PEOCLAMATION. 

Whereas, The Governor of the State of West Yirginia 
has represented that domestic violence exists in said 
State, at Martinsburg, and at various other points along 
the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in said 
State, which the authorities of said State are unable to 
suppress ; and 

Whereas, It is provided in the Constitution of the 
United States, that the United States shall protect every 
State in this Union on application of the Legislature, or 
of the Executive when the Legislature cannot be con- 
vened, against violence; and 

Whereas, Bj- laws in pursuance of the above it is 
provided (in the laws of the United States) that in all 
cases of insurrection in any State, or of obstruction to 
the laws thereof, it shall be lawful for the President of 
the United States, on application of the Legislature of 
such State, or of the Executive when the Legislature 
cannot be convened, to call forth the militia of any 
other State or States, or to employ such part of the land 
and naval forces as shall be judged necessary for the 



40 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

purpose of suppressing such insurrection or causing the 
laws to be duly executed ; and 

Whereas, The Legislature of said State is not now in 
session and cannot be convened in time to meet the 
present emergency, and the Executive of said State, under 
section TV. of article 4 of the Constitution of the United 
States and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, has made 
due application to me in the premises for such part of the 
military force of the United States as may be necessary 
and adequate to protect said State and the citizens there- 
of against domestic violence, and to enforce the due 
execution of the laws ; and 

Whereas, It is required that whenever it may be 
necessary in the judgment of the President to use the 
military force for the purpose aforesaid, he shall forth- 
with, by proclamation, command such insurgents to 
disperse and retire peaceably to their respective homes 
within a limited time ; now, therefore, 

I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, 
do hereby make proclamation and command all persons 
engaged in said unlawful and insurrectionary proceed- 
ings to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective 
abodes on or before twelve o'clock, noon, the nineteenth 
day of July instant, and hereafter abandon said combina- 
tions and submit themselves to the laws and constituted 
authorities of said State, and I invoke the aid and co- 
operation of all good citizens thereof to uphold the laws 
and preserve the public peace. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington this eighteenth day 



A DAY OF DREAD. 4:1 

of July, in the year of our Lord, 1877, and of the 
independence of the United States the one hundred and 
second. 

(Signed,) E. B. Hayes. 

By the President. 

F. A. Seward, Acting. Secretary of State. 

Orders were issued from the War Department, to 
General French, commanding at the Washington arsenal, 
requiring him to take all the available troops from that 
station and proceed at once to Martinsburg. At the 
same time like orders were forwarded to General Barry, 
in command at Fort McHenry, to detach all available 
forces from that post to join the forces under command 
of General French at the threatened points. A force 
of seventy-five men was got ready, chiefly members of 
batteries acting as infantry, officered by Captain J". I. 
Rogers of Battery L., commanding, Captain James E. Wil- 
son of Battery H., and Lieutenants Crawford and Hoyle, 
Taylor and Curtis ; the detachment of Light Battery A., 
was commanded by Lieutenant Niles. The force from the 
Washington Arsenal was organized under the following 
named officers ; Battery D., Captain Litchfield ; Battery 
C, Captain Graves ; Battery F., Lieutenant Simpson ; 
Battery E., Lieutenant Gifford; Battery L, Lieutenant 
Howard, and Battery G., Lieutenant Smith. These 
troops were armed as infantry, the full strength of the 
battalion was about two hundred and fifty men. General 
French commanded, Lieutenant Wolfe Acting Adjutant 
and Lieutenant Maurice Acting Quarter-master. The 
whole force was in readiness to proceed on their way to 
Martinsburg at an early hour in the evening. 



42 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The marching of troops through the streets of the 
National Capital created a profound sensation among the 
citizens. It was the first time in the history of the 
country that a labor strike had become so formidable as ' 
to require the intervention of the general Government 
to preserve order. It was nine o'clock at night when the 
armed battalion of regulars filed through the streets of 
Washington on the way to the station of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railway to embark on the train to proceed to 
Martinsburg. A vast concourse of people had assembled 
to witness their departure . The scene was not unlike 
some of those which characterized the early days of the 
year 1861. The train moved away from the station at 
ten o'clock in the evening, bound for the scene of the 
disturbance. 

Meanwhile bands of strikers had taken possession of 
the railway stations at Cumberland, Grafton, Keyser, and 
other points, and refused to allow any freight trains te 
pass. Emissaries were dispatched from the headquarters 
of the strikers at Martinsburg and Wheeling, to induce 
the firemen and brakemen ; along the Connellsville 
Branch, the Pennsylvania road, the Pittsburgh and 
Chicago, and other railroads in that section of the coun- 
try to join in the strike. During the day the strikers at 
Wheeling made a demonstration of a rather threatening 
character. The single company of militia at that place 
paraded for action. But it was evident that it was not 
strong enough to effect anything, and so the citizen- 
soldiers allowed themselves to be quietly disarmed by 
the striking world ngmen. 

The strikers at Martinsburo- received the President's 
proclamation with indifference or positive disrespect. 



A DAY OF DREAD. 4:3 

No attention whatever was paid to the injunction to 
disperse. On the contrary, with constant accessions to 
their numbers, they became more demonstrative and 
threatening in their bearing. 

■ During the day, a committee of strikers at Baltimore 
-prepared and caused to be printed and circulated a state- 
ment of the causes which impelled them to puruse the 
course which they had adopted.^ They declared that 
they had submitted to three reductions of wages in three- 
years ; that they would have acquiesced in a moderate 
reduction ; that they were frequently sent out on a trip 
to Martinsburg, and there detained four days at the dis- 
cretion of the company, for which detention they were- 
allowed pay for but two day's time ; that they were 
compelled to pay their board during the time they were 
detained, which was more than the wages they received ;, 
that they had nothing left with which to support their 
families ; that it was a question of bread with them ; that 
when times were dull on the road they could not get 
more than fifteen day's work in a month ; that many 
sober, steady, economical men became involved in debt 
last winter ; that honest men had their wages attached 
because they could not meet their expenses ; that by a. 
rule of the company any man who had his wages attached 
should be discharged ; that this was a tyranny to which 
no rational being should submit, and that it was utterly 
impossible for a man with a family to support himself 
and family at the reduced rate of wages. 

These statements of the striking employes were not 
without effect in awakening sympathy for them among^ 
the great mass of the people. 

Anticipating the approach of the regular troops under 



44 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

<reneral French, the Martin sburg strikers proceeded to 
the Sand House, an advantageous position a short dis- 
tance west of the town, and proceeded to erect barricades, 
and to take other measures for defense. At this point 
their forces numbered about four hundred and fifty men. 

It was now evident that the strike was destined to 
spread to other roads than the Baltimore and Ohio. Mys- 
terious journeys were undertaken by non-communicative 
laboring men ; workingmen's unions all over the land 
held meetings nightly ; small bands of operatives were 
constantly meeting and discussing the situation, and 
everywhere was manifested a feeling of unrest among 
the working classes. Nor was evidence wanting of a 
deep under-current of popular sympathy with the object 
aimed at by the West Yirginia strikers. 

The close of the third day after the commencement 
of the strike witnessed the following condition of 
affairs : The Baltimore and Ohio Railway was still 
held by the strikers. The State militia of West 
Yirginia had "either disbanded and had been absorbed 
by the strikers, or had been disarmed by them ; the 
Governor of West Yirginia, confessing his powerless- 
ness, had appealed to the President of the United States 
for assistance in suppressing the disorders in his State ; 
the discontent of railway operatives was manifested in 
an alarming degree ; workingmen engaged in other avo- 
cations had given unmistakable evidence of sympathy 
with the cause of the railroad men, and gave ominous 
hints of a purpose to join them, and to still further 
•complicate matters, railroad managers were demanding 
the intervention of the Federal Government in their be- 
half to protect them while operating their roads. 



A DAT OF DKEAD. 4£> 

Meanwhile General French with a force of regular 
soldiers of the United States was preparing to move 
from Washington on Martinsburg for the purpose of 
suppressing the strikers. 

The movement had already become too great for con- 
trol by the State government. The national adminstra- 
tion had been appealed to, and the great strike was fully 
inauguarated. Mutterings, deep, and significant, from 
a thousand different points, portended the storm which 
was ready to sweep the country with unexampled fury. 
The day had been one of dread, not because of what 
had occurred, as on account of forebodings of what the 
future would bring to pass. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



Culmination of the Crisis. 



Soldiers and Strikers— Fears Realized — From Baltimore to Chicago — 
Pittsburgh Affected — The Pennsylvania Railway Embargoed — In- 
tense Excitement Throughout the Country — Successful Emissaries 
— Immense Extent of the Labor Movement. 



The apprehensions entertained by those who had care- 
fully watched the progress of the uprising among the 
working classes, were verified by the developments of 
the 19th of July. Martin sburg, West Virginia, was 
still the center of interest on the morning of that day, 
but before the close of the day so many events had 
occurred ; so many movements had been commenced ; so 
wide-spread had become the disaffection among the 
workingmen in every department of industrial enter- 
prise, that it was impossible to foretell with any degree 
of certainty in what direction to look for the next 
startling denouement. 

General French had arrived at Martinsburg in com- 
mand of a considerable body of regular troops at six 
o'clock in the morning, and had established his head- 
quarters in a Pullman palace car on the track in front of 
the Berkeley House. About fifty men of the Matthews 
Guard had come up the road from Cumberland, and 
were quartered in one of the machine shops of the Bail- 
road Company, awaiting the arrival of the regulars from 
Washington. The night trip of the special train, bear- 



CULMINATION" OF THE CKISIS. 4:7 

ing General French and his command, was accomplished 
without any attempt to interfere with its progress. 
Great caution, however, was observed, and the time 
required to complete the journey was greatly extended. 
The mass of strikers and their friends at that place 
received the regulars without demonstrations of any 
kind. The soldiers were drawn up in line. The order 
was given to open cartridge boxes. This movement 
created something of a sensation among the sullen, 
ragged assemblage of negroes and strikers, and the mass 
shrank back at the revelation of leaden balls contained 
in those boxes. The battallion was then inarched to one 
of the railway machine shops, which they occupied as 
barracks. Seventy-three locomotives with their trains 
were at this time held at Martin sburg. The strikers 
manifested no disposition to resist the military forces of 
the United States. The Railroad Company undertook to 
send out a number of the embargoed trains after the 
arrival of the military, but experienced great difficulty 
in finding men to run them, notwithstanding the pro- 
tecting presence of the soldiery. As many as five men 
were engaged to fire on one train, and each in succession 
deserted before the train had proceeded to 'the outer 
limits of the town. The Railway Company found itself 
in a position which justified offering any terms which 
might be demanded, to men willing to run their trains. 
But no men were to be obtained. 

About ten o'clock an attempt was made to start a 
freight train from Martinsburg toward Baltimore. A 
locomotive was fired up, while guarded by the military; 
a large company of strikers had assembled ; the Sheriff 
was present with a posse ; an engineer named Bedford 



48 THE GREAT STEIKES. 

was found willing to go, and he mounted to the cab. 
But he did not run the train out. The strikers did not 
menace or threaten, and yet he failed to remain at the 
post of duty he had assumed. Just as the train was 
about to move away Bedford's wife rushed from the 
crowd, mounted the engine, and with agonizing cries 
besought him to leave the position. The engineer 
heeded the entreaties, and departed from the engine, 
followed by the fireman, which conduct elicited prolonged 
cheers from the strikers and their sympathizers. Another 
eDgineer was found, but he too was entreated to give up 
the undertaking and yielded. William M. Clements, 
General Agent of the Company at Locust Point, then 
boarded the engine and proceeded on the road to Balti- 
more without interruption, probably due to the fact that 
twenty regulars were on board. During the day two 
other trains, one bound East, and the other West, were 
despatched, after much difficulty experienced in finding 
men willing to serve as engineers and firemen. But the 
blockade was not raised. The Railway Company had all. 
the military protection, that could be desired, but men 
could not be procured to operate the trains, for any con- 
sideration. Money was powerless to accomplish the 
wishes of the managers, at least for the present. It was 
easy to guard property ; easy to prevent violence by a 
show of force ; easy to assure protection to willing 
hands, but there was no law to compel men to work if 
they did not chose to do so. Here military force was a 
failure. 

Early in the day General French caused to be printed 
a large number of copies of the President's proclamation 
for distribution among the people. The police and 



CULMINATION OF THE CRISIS. 49^ 

constabulary were entrusted with the duty of distributing 
them. But this work seems to have been unproductive 
of results. 

At two o'clock in the afternoon orders were given to 
clear the tracks of the railway at Martinsburg, and a 
6quad of about twenty regulars under Lieutenant Lewis, 
proceeded to execute the order. No resistance was 
offered. The strikers quietly retired to the high grounds 
overlooking the yards and tracks, and good naturedly 
watched the movements of the soldiers. During the 
day a meeting of the strikers was held, at which it was 
decided to demand two dollars per day for firemen and 
brakemen, and no reduction of the salaries of engineers 
and conductors. A committee was appointed consisting 
of a fireman, brakeman, engineer and conductor, to 
confer with similar committees of all other sections. 

An attempt was made during the day to arrest ten of 
the ringleaders of the strikers, on a charge of inciting to 
riot. Warrants for their apprehension were issued and 
placed in the hands of Sheriff Kaderbusch for service. 
That officer summoned a posse and procured the services 
of a person named Engelrecht to act as a guide, and 
point out the persons accused. Going into the throng 
of strikers, they were quickly surrounded and Engel- 
recht, being menaced, refused to designate the men, and 
the attempt failed. No personal violence was offered the 
Sheriff or his men. 

Later in the day, the arrest of Eichard Zepp, supposed 
to be the master spirit among the strikers, was effected 
by the Sheriff. Zepp was committed to jail and a strong 
guard placed about it. He is a native of Martinsburg, 
is about twenty -five years old, is regarded as a man of 



50 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

undoubted courage and determination, and has served as 
a brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad for the 
last five years. In person, he is rather below the 
medium height; is decidedly prepossessing in appear- 
ance, and is a man of more than average intelligence. 
He is not addicted to strong drink ; is fond of amuse- 
ment; generally quiet in demeanor, and is exceedingly 
popular among his acquaintances. He has a wife and 
one child, who reside at Martinsburg. Before night 
Zepp was released from confinement by giving bail. He 
is said to be a man of no small executive ability, and is 
reputed to have furnished the intelligence for the 
Martinsburg strikers. 

An important meeting of unemployed workingmen, 
was held at Cumberland, at which more than five hund- 
red persons were present. The proceedings were quiet 
and orderly, notwithstanding efforts made by some of 
the speakers to arouse the men by inflammatory appeals. 

The most note-worthy of these addresses was made by 
John D. Jones, who declared that the masses of the 
people had been plundered and robbed by the knaves 
and scoundrels who had grown rich by stealing from 
the poor men the produce of their labor. He thought 
it was time the down-trodden masses should rise in their 
majesty and execute vengeance. The ill-timed speech was 
not received with fav^or. Another speech not much less 
inflammatory was delivered by Bernard O'Donnell. It 
was announced that about twenty families of persons out 
of employment through no fault of their own, were 
actually in a condition verging on starvation. Informa- 
tion to the effect that citizens of Cumberland had con- 
tributed in money and provisions about one hundred and 



CULMINATION OF THE CRISIS. 51 

ten dollars for the relief of the destitute was laid before 
the meeting. 

The animus of the speeches at this meeting is the 
feature which renders a notice of it important in this 
place. It was a wide spread belief among a large class 
of people in the lower ranks of society, who were reduced 
almost to stravation, that they had been wronged and 
•oppressed beyond all endurance, that made the scenes 
witnessed in so many of the great cities of the country 
possible. It was an out-cropping of the dreadful doc- 
trines of the Commune which subsequently played so 
important a part in the great popular commotion accom- 
panying the labor strikes. 

At Parkersburg the feeling among the employes had 
become very bitter against the Railway Company. They 
claimed that the Company was in arrears with the men, 
and it was unpardonable to cut their wages under such 
circumstances. The shops of the Company were closed 
at that point, and more than two hundred men con- 
nected with the road were thrown out of employment. 

During the day about two hundred canal-boatmen, the 
most turbulent strikers who had yet appeared, proceeded 
from Cumberland to Martinsburg, and afterward pro- 
ceeded to Sir John's Run, twelve miles east of the last 
named point, and there established themselves, and pro- 
claimed their purpose to either stop or wreck all trains 
that attempted to pass. 

At Grafton the number of the strikers was constantly 
increasing. No freight trains were allowed to pass East 
or West. The strikers established headquarters in Brink- 
man's Hall, where an important council was held between 
Committees representing all the sections of the road. 



52 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The firemen and brakemen employed on the Baltimore' 
and Ohio Railroad, at Newark, Ohio, numbering one- 
hundred and fifty, struck on account of the 10 per cent. 
reduction, and proceeded to lay an embargo on all freight 
transportation. Officers of the road immediately applied 
to Governor Young for protection and assistance. The 
strikers at this point assumed an equally determined 
attitude with their brethren of West Virginia and Mary- 
land. M. L. Dougherty, master of traffic on the Ohio- 
division, had a conference with the Newark strikers, and 
offered to pay the old rates to such of the men as would 
volunteer to go out with trains. The offer was declined. 

Governor Matthews having called for volunteers to sup- 
press the rioters, twelve men who had responded to the 
call, were sent to Martinsburg with a militia company.. 
Arrived there they refused to serve against the strikers,, 
and in disgust returned to their homes. 

President John W. Garrett, of the Baltimore and Ohio- 
Railway Company, forwarded to President Hayes a 
rather singular document. In this he has " the honor to 
urge " the President to comply with the formal request 
of the Governor of West Virginia. The document is 
sufficiently remarkable to justify the transfer of a copious 
extract from it to these pages. The Railway King wrote 
to the President of the United States : 

" I am informed that Governor Matthews, of West 
Virginia, has telegraphed your excellency that, owing to 
unlawful combinations and domestic violence now exist- 
ing at Martinsburg and at other points along the line of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, it is impossible for any 
force at his command to execute the laws of the State, 
and has therefore called upon the government for the 



CULMINATION OF THE CRISIS. 53 

.-assistance of the United States military in this great and 
serious emergency. I have the honor to urge that the 
application of Governor Matthews be immediately 
granted. It is impossible for the Company to move any 
freight train because of the open intimidation of the 
strikers, and the attacks that they have made upon the 
men in the service of the Company who arc willing to 
work. Unless this difficulty is immediately stopped I 
apprehend the gravest consequences, not only upon our 
line, but upon all lines in the country, which, like our- 
selves, have been obliged to introduce measures of econ- 
-omy in these trying times, for the preservation of the 
effectiveness of railway property. May I ask your ex- 
cellency, if the application of Governor Matthews be 
granted, to have me immediately advised, through the 
Secretary of War, of the points from which troops will 
be sent, in order that no delay may occur in their trans- 
portation. If I may be permitted to suggest, Fort Mc- 
Henry and AVashington are the points nearest to the 
scenes of disturbance, and from which a movement can 
be made with the greatest promptness and rapidity. It 
is proper to add that from full information on the subject, 
I am aware that the Governor of West Virginia has ex- 
erted all means at his command to suppress this insurrec- 
tion, and that this great national highway can only be 
restored for public use by the interposition of United 
States forces. From an imperative sense of duty I am 
impelled to join in asking immediate action in order to 
prevent the rapid increase of difficulties in the use of the 
lines between Washington city and Baltimore and the 
Ohio river." 

A meeting of miners in the Piedmont district was 



54 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

held on the 19th, at which strong resolutions of sympathy: 
with the railroad strikers were adopted. The miners, 
promised support and suhstantial assistance to the rail- 
road men. 

At Baltimore, no important demonstration took place. 
The strikers were comparatively quiet, apparently await- 
ing the turn of events in other parts of the country. 

July 19th, 1877, will long be remembered by the 
students of American history as being the day in which, 
the opening events in a tragic episode of destruction and- 
death took place at Pittsburgh. During the day not a 
train of freight cars was moved on the line of the Penn- 
sylvania Central Railway. The strike had extended to 
the employes of that great thoroughfare. But the story, 
of events connected with it must be reserved for a future 
chapter of these annals. 

The Great Strike at the close of the fourth day of its 
existence extended from Baltimore to Chicago, and the 
general alarm was becoming more intense with the flight 
of every hour. 

The situation was becoming extremely critical. It 
was now evident that other elements than railroads 
employes were destined to take part in the conflict. 
Mechanics, artisans and laborers in every department of 
human industry began to show symptoms of restlessness 
and discontent that boded no good to the country. AIL 
day, the 19th, committees and representatives of work- 
ingmen's associations and unions, and societies, were 
holding meetings for conference at Baltimore, at Pitts- 
burgh, Philadelphia, Reading, Scranton, Graf ton, Wheel- 
ing, Columbus, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, in fact int. 
every center of population and seat of commerce from. 



CULMINATION OF THE CRISIS. 55 

the Atlantic shores to the base of the Kock Mountains. 
What did these semi -mysterious conferences mean? 
There is not in existence a particle of evidence that 
there was concert of action between the different 
branches of the wage-receiving classes, previous to the 
strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. It appears 
then^ that the careful preparations going on to engage in 
general strikes was a spontaneous movement, generated 
of wide spread and deep seated discontent among the 
entire laboring classes of the United States. 

To complicate matters still further, the speeches and 
addresses made at meetings and conferences held during 
this day, fore-shadowed the appearance on the scene of 
an element of all others, the most to be dreaded — the 
Internationalists, and Communistic Societies. It was 
evident before the close of the fourth day of the strike, 
that the mobs in every large city in the land were pre- 
paring for action ; that they were desperate, and that 
they would not hesitate to inaugurate a reign of terror 
more dreadful than that which appalled the civilized 
world in France. There had been no conflict of arms 
during the day, but the smouldering volcano gave token 
of an eruption. It was the quiet that precedes the 
devastation of the tornado. Before another day closed 
the storm had burst in all its fury, and the American 
people entered upon their eight days experience of a 
reign of terror. 



CHAPTEK V. 



Riot and Ruin. 



Progress of the Great Strikes — Social Disorders — " The Dang erous 
Classes" — The Commune Comes Upon the Scene — Intense Excite- 
ment Throughout the Country — Dealings with Death in Baltimore 
— Alarm Throughout the Country — Proclamations and Orders. 



Those who had cherished the hope that the conse- 
quences of the railroad strike along the line of the Bal- 
timore and Ohio Railway would be local and limited, 
were doomed to be disappointed. The strikes were 
extending in all directions. It was no longer the rail- 
road men, as a class, who were involved. Other classes 
of laborers had become enlisted. The situation had 
become extremely critical. The very foundations of 
society were shaken in their lowest depths. Like the 
wild tumult and commotion of a midnight storm, sweep- 
ing across both land and sea, with vivid flashes of light- 
ning illuminating its pathway and giving new awe to its 
ravages, was the mighty current of passion and hate 
which threatened the destruction of both the social and 
political institutions of this country on the 20th day of 
July, 1877. From the very first the cause of the 
strikers had been gathering strength. In West Yirginia 
the masses of the people were open in their sympathy 
toward them. Everywhere there was an undercurrent 
of sympathy with their object. Thus far the railroad 
men had committed few, or no acts which the general 



RIOT AND KUIN. 57 

public regarded as lawless. From the Baltimore and 
Ohio road, on which the first trouble occurred, the strike 
had extended to the Connellsville Branch, the Pittsburgh 
and Fort Wayne, the Erie, and the Great Pennsylvania 
Railway System. \JToJ&e bands of railroad strikers had 
come a nondescript assemblage of canal-boatmen, truck- 
men, unemployed mechanics and artisans belonging to 
various trades, and more dreadful than all, vast swarms 
of vicious idlers, vagrants and tramps. \ The whole mass 



'5 '"■& 






had been transformed into a lawless'mob. In the cities 
the rabble composed of vagabonds, tramps and thieves, 
were on the alert, ready to plunder, burn, and cut 
throats on the slightest provocation. 

To complicate matters, in all the principal centers of 
population and seats of trade, the Internationalists, an 
association with which the American people had hereto- 
fore had small acquaintance, became suddenly extremely 
active, and dangerously bold. The Commune, even worse 
than the Internationalists, joined in the tumult, and 
boldly demanded concessions which would have proved 
subversive of all government, all social order. Coal 
miners came from their black pits and joined their voices 
to swell the universal tumult. 

Such was the condition of affairs in the most populous 
and wealthiest regions of the country on the morning of 
the 20th of July. The conferences, and mysterious 
assemblages of the previous day had not been unpro- 
ductive of effects disasterous to the supremacy of law 
and the good order of society. It was a time of dread 
even to the coolest and most daring. 

The strikers had invoked a power which they them- 
selves could not control. While the contest was between 



58 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

them and their employers, while they committed no other 
unlawful acts than such as impeded operations of rail- 
ways, while they confined themselves to petty acts of 
annoyance to the public and injury to railway companies, 
there can be no question as to the fact that a vast mul- 
titude of people sincerely wished them to be successful. 
Eight or wrong, there was a feeling abroad that to stop a 
train, not only by quitting work themselves, but by ac- 
tively interfering to prevent others from working, was at 
most but a venial fault, an error perhaps, but scarcely a 
violation of law. There is too much, of the opinion 
entertained by the masses that the property of corpora- 
tions is not to be regarded in the same light as the prop- 
erty of individuals. And this wide-spread error rendered 
it possible for such scenes as we are about to describe, to 
be enacted. 

While centers of interest had multiplied indefinitely 
during the 18th and 19th, yet the chief interest was still 
concentrated at Baltimore and along the line of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, as late as the 20th and 
even after that date. 

The meeting at Cumberland, Maryland, held on the 
19th, and an account of which is given in a former chap- 
ter, created no little uneasiness in the minds of those in 
authority ; not so much because of what was done, as on 
account of what was threatened. The speeches of Jones, 
CVDonnell and others on that occasion, unquestionably 
had a bad influence on the more recklessly disposed 
members of the mass of strikers there assembled. So 
threatening was the condition of aifairs at that point,, 
that the officers of the Railway Company, made application 
to Governor Carroll, of Maryland, for a military force to 



RIOT AND RUIN. 5$ 

protect their interests. The strikers included canal- 
boatmen, and some mill-men and other laborers, together 
with a few of the railroad strikers, who had retired 
from Martinsburg after the arrival of General French' 
with the regulars at that point, had taken up a 
position at Sir John's Run, a dangerous place on. 
the road some twelve miles from Martinsburg. This 
band now numbered some four hundred persons, and bad 
degenerated into a turbulent, lawless mob. The presence 
of the military at Martinsburg had enabled the Railway 
Company to despatch a large number of their delayed 
trains from that station. But the strikers at Cumber- 
land, Sir John's Run, and other places, not having the 
fear of General French and his regulars before them,, 
resolved to stop all trains that attempted to pass. 
Accordingly, the rioters at the first named place, pro- 
ceeded to switch off every train that arrived from the 
East or the West, and drag the engineers and firemen 
off the locomotives, in many cases handling them very 
roughly, and threatening them with severer treatment if 
they attempted to operate trains on the road during the 
continuance of the strike. 

At Sir John's Run, the turbulent mob there assembled, 
stopped a train which was guarded by soldiers, climbed 
upon the engine, and threw the engineer and fireman to 
the ground. This mob had procured arms, and was pre- 
pared to resist a considerable force. Many of them were 
supplied with Henry and Winchester repeating rifles^, 
and from this circumstance were able to overawe any 
train-guard likely to be sent out. 

Meanwhile, train after train was dispatched from 
Martinsburg. They commenced to move them at seven. 



<60 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

o'clock the morning of the 20th, and moved a train 
both East and West every thirty minutes. Few of 
these, however, reached their destination on time. 
Early in the day General French issued stringent orders, 
forbidding any person to approach the yards and tracks 
of the Railway Company, under any pretence, no matter 
whether friendly or hostile. Strong guards were posted, 
and a picket line thrown out to enforce this order. 
Only the persons connected with the operation of the 
trains were permitted to enter the guarded precincts. 

The strikers sullenly retired to a neighboring height, 
^whence they viewed the operations below, and occasion- 
ally taunted the trainmen while engaged at their work. 
The assurance of protection, with offers of extra wages, 
had its effect on engineers and firemen who were idle, 
and by the morning of the 20th the Company had no 
difficulty in securing all the men they wanted. The 
small force at his command rendered it impossible for 
the commander of the federal forces at Martinsburg to 
afford sufficient guards for all the trains. 

In the afternoon General French issued the following 
order of warning to the rioters : 

Headquarters United States Troops, ) 
Martinsburg. W. Va., July 20, 1877. J 

Due notification having been given by the proclama- 
tion of the President of the United States to those 
concerned, the undersigned warns all persons engaged 
in the interception of travel on the Baltimore and Ohio 
Eailroad that the trains must not be impeded, and who- 
ever undertakes it, do so at their own peril. 

(Signed) William H. French, 

Brevet Major-General United States Army, 

Colonel Fourth Artillery Commanding. 



RIOT AND RUIN. 61 

It was also determined to break up the encampment 
of the mob at Sir John's Run. Accordingly, a train 
was sent out and with it went Captain Litchfield, with 
two companies of soldiers to the point of disturbance. 
On the approach of the troops, the canal-boatmen 
betook themselves to the Maryland side of the river, or 
to their boats. Two trains with fires out, which had 
been stopped by them, were fired up and sent on to the 
West. A detachment of troops were left at this post to 
overawe the mob, and afford protection to passing 
trains. The strikers everywhere expressed a determin- 
ation to hold out until their demands were complied 
with. A mob numbering about eight hundred men took 
possession of a portion of the track of the railway near 
Baltimore, and compelled all trains which started out to 
be backed into the yard again. \Thi s gang was not com- 
posed of railroad men, but consisted of unemployed and 
vicious persons of the city, in sympathy with the strikers. 

Lieutenant Curtis, commanding a detachment of 
regulars, was sent by General French to afford protec- 
tion to the trains. The result of the expedition is thus 
related by that officer, in a despatch to General French. 

" The train was stoned at Sir John's Run, but no one 
was injured. The rain doubtless prevented a large 
gathering. Reached Cumberland without molestation 
at 12:45 a. m. Torpedoes on the track notified the 
strikers at Keyser of our coming. The regular engineer 
and fireman were taken off by the strikers and the train 
run on a siding. About one hundred strikers are at the de- 
pot now. My detachment is too small for effective opera- 
tions, and there are poor accommodations. Shall I remain 
here, retire to Cumberland or return to Martinsburg?" 



'62 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The force at his command not being sufficiently large 
to warrant any further reduction, Lieutenant Curtis was 
ordered back to Martinsburg. Practically the attempt 
to open the road through the aid of the military forces 
of the United States, had come to an end, as the strikers 
had possession at Cumberland, Keyser, and several other 
important stations. 

The situation at Cumberland had become alarming. 
There the strikers, their sympathizers, and whole troops 
of tramps who had come in and joined them, numbered 
about five hundred men. The men in the large iron works 
In the place were discontented, and at the point of join- 
ing the lawless bands. Towards the close of the afternoon, 
the crowds of idlers had increased to such an extent, and 
become so threatening in their demonstrations, that an 
urgent appeal was telegraphed to Governor Carroll for 
assistance. The Governor had already been advised of 
the critical condition of affairs at that point, and had 
immediately on his arrival in Baltimore consulted with 
the railroad officials as to the best means for suppressing 
the disorders, and had arrived at a determination to send 
General Herbert, with the Fifth Eegiment, Maryland 
National Guard. In pursuance of this purpose, the fol- 
lowing order was issued : 



77.) 



Executive Mansion, 
Baltimore, July 20, 18' 

Brigadier- General James jR. Herbert, Commander 
First Brigade, Md. N. G. 

Sir : — You will proceed at once with the Fifth Kegi- 
ment of your command to the city of Cumberland to aid 
in the suppression of riot and lawlessness along the line 



KIOT AND RUIN. 63' 

of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in this State, and 
there await further orders. 

(Signed) John Lee Carroll, 

Governor and Commander-in-Chief. 

The Governor being fully informed of all the facts 
bearing on the wild disorders in a portion of his State, 
resolved upon issuing the following proclamation, which 
was at once made public. 

Governor Carroll's Proclamation. 



Whereas, It has come to the knowledge of the Execu- 
tive that combinations of men have been formed at 
various points along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad in this State, and that a conspiracy exists, the 
object of which is to impede the traffic and interfere with 
the legitimate business of the said Railroad Company ; 
and, 

Whereas, Yarious acts of lawlessness and intimidation 
to effect this purpose have been perpetrated in this State 
by bodies of men with whom the local authorities are, 
in some instances, incompetent to deal ; and, 

Whereas, It is of the first importance that good 
order should everywhere prevail, and that citizens of 
every class should be protected ; 

Therefore, I, John Lee Carroll, Governor of Mary- 
land, by virtue of the authority vested in me, do hereby 
issue this, my proclamation, calling upon all citizens of 
this State to abstain from acts of lawlessness, and aid 
lawful authorities in the maintainance of peace and 
order. 



64 THE GEEAT STRIKES. 

Given under my hand and the great seal of the State 
of Maryland, at the city of Baltimore, this twentieth day 
of July, 1877. 

(Signed) John Lee Caeeoll, Governor. 

By the Governor, 

B. C. Holiday, Secretary of State. 

In obedience to the orders of the Governor, General 
Herbert summoned the officers and men of his command 
to repair to their armory on North Howard street at 
once, and there await further orders. This order was 
promulgated about three o'clock in the afternoon. The 
men began to assemble, but without alacrity. At five 
o'clock not more than one hundred men were found to 
be present. A train to carry them West was being pre- 
pared, and the militia-men then assembled in the armory 
on North Howard street fully expected to be transferred 
to the seat of war out in the mountain regions of the 
West. Such, however, was not to be the case. Balti- 
more was even then on the eve of one of the most mo- 
mentous events in her history. The Spirit of violence 
was brooding over the city — was destined to have her 
streets reddened with blood before the sun rose on the 
morrow. 

All the afternoon the crowds at various points in the 
city had been augmenting with every passing hour. 
About the railway depots, especially, there were dense 
masses of people congregated. There was an unwonted 
air of excitement visible among the pedestrians, who 
poured through the streets. The Mayor, through infor- 
mation obtained of the police, was convinced that the 
city was in danger of riotous demonstrations. 



u 



EIOT AND RUIN. 65 

In the neighborhood of the armories vast masses of 
people had collected, and these hooted and jeered the 
assembling militia-men. In the neighborhood of the 
armory of the Fifth Kegiment, in North Howard street, 
the thoroughfares were literally packed by a throng of 
people of all ages, and both sexes. Women taunted the 
soldiers, and cheered for the strikers. Nor were the feel- 
ings of the mob vented alone in tantalizing language. 
A crowd of roughs stationed themselves on the side- 
walk, opposite the armory, with bricks and stones, and 
in some instances pistols, and began to throw at the 
soldiers within, through the windows. The appearance 
of a militia-man at a window was greeted by a perfect 
storm of missiles. Several shots were fired. The 
gathering soldiers had great difficulty in forcing their 
way through the crowd, and ran the risk of being torn 
in pieces when they attempted to effect an entrance into* 
the building. 

Moment by moment the storm of passion gathered in 
volume and force. It was evident that the situation of 
the city was perilous in the extreme. The police force 
was powerless to effect a dispersion of the rioters. Dis- 
aster and death threatened to walk hand-in-hand through 
the streets of the ill-fated city. 

During the day, the German section of the Internation- 
alists, otherwise known as " The Workingmen's Party of 
the United States," held a largely attended meeting at 
their hall at JSTos. 43 and 45 East Pratt street, and dis- 
cussed the situation. Christopher Hesse, made a speech,, 
in which he declared the present movement was a revo- 
lution, and offered the opportunity to the International- 
ists to carry out their principles. " The government,'" 



vt)b THE GREAT STRIKES. 

'be :said, " should own all the railroads, and the working- 
imen should constitute the government." He called upon 
rthem to rise and assert their rights, even though it should 
jbe necessary to deluge the streets of Baltimore in blood. 

Another meeting of the same character was held in 
the afternoon at No. 20 Bond street. The persons who 
attended this place were principally Bohemians and Poles. 
An individual named Frank Wovrinna, a late importa- 
tion from Prague, seemed to take the lead in this demon- 
stration. His sentiments and purposes were on a level 
with those expressed by Hesse. 

At No. 261 Battery avenue, still another convocation 
of the Internationalists assembled, and one John George 
Kicker, seemed to breathe the spirit of his own fiery 
nature into the small band of tramps who had assembled 
there. He, too, was for war, swift, terrible, relentless, 
in order that the wrongs of workingmen might be re- 
dressed. 

These people were dealing with death in their desper- 
ate venture. It was such counsel as they could give, 
.which led to the deadly volley that caused the streets of 
Baltimore to be stained with blood that same evening. 
'To the scenes and incidents of the night of the 20th in 
^the city of Baltimore, we must devote more space than 
can be afforded in this chapter. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Tocsin Sounds in Baltimore. 



The Gathering Mob — Thronged Streets and Angry Men — Terrible 
Exhibition of Passion and Temerity — Soldiers Stoned by Rioters — 
Sharp Volleys and Sudden Deaths—A Night of Terror — Alarm 
Bells— The Torches' Red Glare. 



The sun was still high above the horizon when the 
•crowds in the streets of Baltimore had increased to such 
an extent, and manifested so turbulent a disposition, that 
the authorities were forced to realize the imminent dan- 
ger which impended over the city. Peaceable citizens 
trembled when they beheld the surging masses of passion - 
blinded workingmen in possession of the thoroughfares. 
It was a threatening throng. In the neighborhood of 
the armories, gangs of men and boys, and even women, 
had collected and hooted and jeered the assembling 
militia-men. ^ Those crowds were composed of a few 
railroad men, workers in machine shops, factories, mills, 
iounderies, and vast numbers of those who live by prey- 
ing upon others — thieves, professional ruffians, the scum 
of the city, jail-birds, or those who were hurrying with 
rapid steps to enter prison doors, drunken loafers, tramps 
just returned from making a circuit in quest of food and 
the pickings of rogues, with a considerable intermixture 
of peaceable citizens who had come out to gratify an idle 
curiosity, and been drawn into the seething mass of 
grimy workingmen and odorous thieves. The excite- 



\ 

68 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

merit was intense, and the tide of passion rose with eveiy 
passiug moment. 

The Mayor and the Commissioners of Police foresaw 
the coming storm, and realized how powerless they were 
to arrest its fury if the militia should be withdrawn from 
the city. 

Meanwhile the militia regiment which had been 
ordered to Cumberland, were slow to obey the summons 
of the sergeants, and had not yet prepared to march to the 
Camden depot to take the train. The attitude of the 
street crowd was fearfully threatening. All along the 
route which it was expected the ^troops would take on 
their march to the station, the streets were thronged by 
dense masses of people, engaged in discussing the situa- 
tion. The passer-by needed not to inquire on which, 
side the sympathies of these throngs were bestowed. 
They were, as a mass, the friends of the strikers. 

Mayor Latrobe, at once issued a proclamation, reciting- 
the riot act, and ordering the mobs which had collected 
at four different points in the city to disperse. But 
proclamations had no effect on the aroused passions of 
the dangerous classes. What did they care for law, when 
they already felt themselves sufficiently strong to sub- 
vert all lawful authority? Later in the afternoon Gov- 
ernor Carroll received a communication from Mayor 
Latrobe, which he embodied in the following order to 

General Herbert : 

Baltimore, July 20. 

Brigadier- General Jas. B. Herbert, Commanding 
First Brigade M. N. G. 
Sir: I have just received the following communica- . 
tion from Ferdinand C. Latrobe, Mayor of Baltimore : 



THE TOCSIN SOUNDS IN BALTIMORE. 69 

Baltimore, July 20. 

His Excellency John Lee Carroll, Governor of Mary- 
land. 

Dear Sir : In view of the condition of affairs now 
existing in this city, and the violent demonstration that 
lias taken place within the last hour, I would suggest 
that neither of the regiments of State malitia be ordered 
to leave Baltimore this evening. I make this suggestion 
after a consultation with the Commissioners of Police. 
Yery respectfully, 

(Signed) Ferdinand C. Latrobe, 

Mayor of Baltimore. 

In consequence of the above request, the order to pro- 
ceed to Cumberland with the Fifth Regiment is hereby 
revoked, and you will hold the men under your command 
ready to aid the city authorities in case they should be 
required in preserving order throughout the city. 

(Signed) John Lee Carroll, Governor. 

It was past six o'clock in the evening when collisions 
between the mob and the police and militia became 
.alarmingly frequent. At this time the streets were 
literally overflowing with excited crowds of people. 
It was now evident to the most temporizing that a 
collision could not be avoided. The authorities must 
put down the mob, or be over-ridden by it. Hesitation 
was out of place, and delay dangerous. 

The want of alacrity on the part of the militia in 
assembling, induced General Herbert to cause the general 
militia alarm to be sounded. This step was not approved 
of by Governor Carroll. The number 151, the militia 



70 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

call, was tolled from all the alarm bells. The excitement 
was terrible. It was the first time in the history of the 
city that the dreadful tocsin had fell upon the ears of the 
citizens. The wildest commotion ensued. The people 
poured into the streets in every quarter of town, and 
rushed excitedly towards the City Hall Square. Women 
and children, old and young men, constituting vast 
streams of humanity, flowing at the same time on all 
the streets, through which access to the square could be 
had, with awe inspiring tumult, moved onward to the 
common center of interest. Again the dreadful bells 
pealed forth 151 ; and the shouts and cries, cursings and 
prayers of that maddened throng, composed as it was of 
every class, but most largely of reckless, idiotic, drunken,, 
imbecile, poverty-stricken, unwashed, grimy men, seam- 
ed with every line which wretchedness could draw or 
vicious habits and associations could fix on human faces,, 
presented a spectacle that made one feel as though it was 
a tearful witnessing in perspective of the last day, when 
the secrets of life, more loathsome than those of death, 
shall be laid bare in their hideous deformity and ghastly^ 
shame. 

Meanwhile the Fifth Regiment, Maryland National 
Guards, had completed preparations and marched by a 
different route from that anticipated by the rioters, to the 
Camden Station, and thereby avoided any serious con- 
flict on the streets. 

The alarm sounded from the City Hall called the 
members of the Sixth Regiment, Colonel Clarence 
Peters in command, to hurry to their armory, corner of 
Fayette and Front streets. In front of -this armory a 
mob numbering three or four thousand persons had 



THE TOCSIN SOUNDS IN BALTIMORE . 71 

assembled. The demeanor of this mass was very 
threatening, and it was with great difficulty that the 
soldiers could assemble. Shortly after eight o'clock orders 
were given to this regiment to move out towards the 
Camden Station which was threatened by a great mob of 
malcontents. The roughs began to make more active de- 
monstrations. A perfect storm of bricks, stones and other 
missiles were hurled at the building. The windows were 
watched, and when a soldier appeared a shower of mis- 
siles aud pistol balls were at once aimed at him. It was 
with exceeding difficulty that the soldiers could make 
progress through the densely crowded streets. They 
were followed on the march by a vast mob, who with 
demoniac yells and blasphemies ceased not to pelt the 
marchiug column with bricks, stones — anything they 
could seize, capable of inflicting wounds. The militia 
behaved as if wanting in coolness and courage. But 
as yet no reply was made to the incessant peltings of 
the mob, which every moment became more daring. 

The marching detachment was in actual danger of be- 
ing overwhelmed by sheer force and weight of numbers. 
"When the troops had reached the intersection of Fred- 
erick and Baltimore streets, the mob pressed so closely 
upon them that they were constrained to protect them- 
selves. No command to halt was given; no orders to 
fire, but the men acted without orders. A sharp rattle 
of musketry rang out above the tumult of the mob. A 
whistling of bullets was heard, men were seen to drop, 
cries of agony were mingled with curses and howls of 
rage. Women screamed and fainted on the streets ; chil- 
dren mingled their piercing cries with the general uproar. 
There was a shrinking back of the crowd for a moment, 



72 THE GREAT, STRIKES. 

and the militia marched on. Bat the rioters quickly ral- 
lied and by the time the troops had proceeded two squares 
the throng was as great as before, and the mob threat- 
ened to rush upon and disarm and murder the soldiers in 
the streets. When opposite the office of the American, 
newspaper, another halt was called, and another volley 
of bullets were poured into the midst of the howling 
mass of men who pressed upon the marching column. 
Men sank in their tracks and expired. This second dis- 
charge was received by the rioters with mingled cries of 
agony, threats and jeers. Paving-stones were gathered 
from the streets and hurled by strong arms into the ranks 
of the soldiers. The determination of the mob was a 
fearful exhibition of aroused passions. The momentary 
check given the rioters was taken advantage of by the 
militia to continue their march. But again the mob ral- 
lied and assailed the troops as the head of the column 
turned into Charles street. Another halt, another fusi- 
llade, a few more dead on the streets, was the result. 
Then the soldiers proceeded, amid the hoots and jeers of 
a maddened populace, to the depot. 

The Fifth Kegiment had already arrived at that point. 
The mob collected there was vast in numbers, and threat- 
ening in demeanor. The malcontents were ordered to 
disperse; but they paid no attention to the command. 
The lower part of the depot was in the undisputed pos- 
session of the rioters. The engineer and fireman of the 
train which had been got ready to convey the Fifth Regi- 
ment to Cumberland, had been forcibly taken from 
their engine, and threatened with death if they dared 
approach it again. As the Fifth Regiment approached 
the depot it too was assailed by the mob, with showers 



THE TOCSIN SOUNDS IN BALTIMORE. 73 

of missiles. Several soldiers were hurt by being struck. 
The soldiers dared not attack the mob until reinforced 
by the Sixth Regiment. When that regiment arrived the 
rioting began. The soldiers formed in line, and charged 
bayonets. The gleam of the bright steel in the gaslight 
had a magical effect on the courage of the rioters. They 
shrunk back aghast at this exhibition of death-dealing 
implements. The depot was cleared of the mob in a 
short time. A strong guard was placed about the grounds 
to protect the property. The mob, however, was not 
conquered. Threats that the depot would be burned 
were made. At 10.30 o'clock a fire was started at Cam- 
den Station. At first the rioters refused to allow the 
firemen to play upon the flames ; but at last the fire was 
extinguished without doing much damage. 

Subsequently two fires were started in the southern 
part of the city, which, however, were extinguished with- 
out involving very heavy losses. 

The mob still held all that district of the city, and 
boldly declared their purpose to destroy all property sit- 
uated in that quarter, if their every demand was not 
complied with. All the shops and warehouses of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company are located in the 
portion of the city which was held by them. 

The order of the Governor countermanding the or- 
der to send away the troops, was of the very first import- 
ance. Without the presence of these troops, Baltimore 
would have been completely in the power of the " danger- 
ous classes," for it was the vicious and depraved that 
now came forward as leaders of the workingmen. There 
was much more need for soldiers in the metropolis than 
at the wayside station of Cumberland. 



74 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

During all the time while the military were dealing- 
with the mob at the depot, the excitement throughout 
the city had gone on increasing. Nine o'clock, ten, 
eleven, twelve, one o'clock came, and still there was 
scarcely any perceptible diminution in the numbers of 
people thronging the streets. The spectacle was some- 
thing fearful. The loud mouthings had given place to 
deeper cursings. The froth of the first ebullition of 
passion had been swept away by the breath of an intenser 
hate. Men cursed society, defied all law, and swore to 
wreck the peace of mankind by inaugurating a reign of 
social chaos. The streets had been stained with blood ; 
"ten lusty lives had been snuffed out " by "the whiff of 
volleys of bullets." Twenty-three more strong men, who^ 
had rejoiced in the strength and vigor of manhood when 
the sun went down, were now mangled and helpless. 
The scent of blood whetted the appetite of the mob for 
more blood. In the hour of madness, society encounters 
its gravest perils. Then the bonds of union are broken. 

The names of the killed by the volleys fired into the 
mob by the Sixth Regiment on its way to the depot, were 
Thomas V. Byrne, Patrick Gill, Louis Sinovitch, Nich- 
olas Kheinhardt, Cornelius Murphy, William Hourand,. 
John Henry Frank, George McDowell, Otto Manck, and 
Mark C. Doud. Several of these were respectable and 
peaceable citizens, who had been drawn to the scene of 
disturbance by mere curiosity. Two more persons, James 
Roke and George Kemp, wounded at the time, died of 
their injuries afterward. 

All night the excitement continued. The citizens of 
Baltimore were in a state of nervous anticipation, which 
banished sleep from their eyes. What would the mor- 



THE TOCSIN SOUNDS IN BALTIMORE. 75- 

row bring ? What dire disaster come upon the city I 
These were questions each asked but which none could 
answer. The blind Polyphemus was directing blows- 
from the mighty arm of the giant Briserius. Who could 
tell what blind fury might or might not do ! 

The two regiments of militia remained at the Camden 
Station during the night. The feeling against members 
of the Sixth Regiment was quite bitter. The members 
of that command could not leave the station the next 
day after the firing without risk. They had to secretly 
leave their quarters in citizens dress, without arms. To 
admit that one was a member of the Sixth, was to ex- 
pose one's self to the danger of being torn in pieces. 

It was evident that there were agencies at work outside 
of the workingmen's strike. The people engaged in these 
riots were not railroad strikers. The Internationalists had 
evidently had something to do with creating the scenes 
of bloodshed. The threats of their leaders made at 
meetings held the same evening were evidently not 
merely idle vaporings. Women frenzied with rage,, 
joined the mob and incited the men to stand firm in the 
fight. The scenes of the night of the 20th of July,. 
1877, in the city of Baltimore, were not unlike those 
which characterized the events in the city of Paris during 
the reign of the Commune in 1870. 

So alarming had become the situation, so great and 
so determined had become the lawless elements, that 
Governor Carroll was constrained to appeal to the Federal 
Government for assistance, which he did by making a. 
formal call on the President of the United States for 
troops, the same evening after the bloody fusilades. 



CHAPTEK VII. 



The Internationalists. 



The Baltimore Mob Not Railroad Strikers — The Communistic Tend- 
ancy in American Cities — Destructive Theories— Danger to the 
Country Threatened — An Element to be Feared — Some Account 
of the Origin of the Association. 



The mob at Baltimore revealed the existance of an 
association in this country, which had hitherto been sup- 
posed to be confined to the old world. Taking advan- 
tage of the strikes of the railroad men, the " Workingmen's 
Party of the United States," suddenly revealed itself in 
almost every city in the Union, not only as an element 
in the general disturbance, but as the prompting power 
in all the movements made subsequent to the transfer of 
the seat of trouble from Martinsburg to the larger cen- 
ters of population. The riot at Baltimore showed them 
behind the scenes, manipulating the populace, and organ- 
izing the rioters. Henceforth they appear inseperably 
•connected with every movement made by the strikers, or 
mobs. The name " "Workingmen's Party of the United 
States," had a certain charm for a large class of American 
laborers, who without examination, or much reflection, 
suffered themselves to be drawn into apparent affiliation 
with an association which holds views directly antago- 
nistic to all sound principles of government, and wholly 
subversive of the doctrines which underlie the founda-. 
tions of social order. 



THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 7T 

This so-called " Party " is neither more nor less than the 
organization known in Europe as " The International 
Association of Workingmen," which has cost almost 
every government on that continent no little uneasiness. 
The evidence of the conspicuous part played by the In- 
ternationalists in bringing about the bloody catastrophy 
at Baltimore, and in every subsequent collision between 
the authorities and the populace, is a justification for 
breaking off the narrative concerning events at this point, 
and devoting a chapter to that element in our political 
life, which, for the first time in our history, comes to the 
front and presents itself as formidable and dangerous. 

The germ of the organization is apparently to be found 
in a visit made, in 1862, by a delegation of French work- 
men to the Universal Exhibition in London. This dele- 
gation travelled under the sanction, if not at the charge 
of the imperial government of Napoleon III. The keen 
foresight of the Perfect of Police could discover no good 
to come of this journey of artisans, and he would have 
interfered to prevent it, had not the express sanction of 
the Emperor induced him to countenance the proceeding. 
The acquaintance formed on that occasion, led to a cor- 
respondence, and that to a second meeting in 1863. On 
this occasion the imperial sanction was neither sought 
nor desired. The plan of International combination had 
taken form ; and in the language of one of the earliest 
actors in the matter, "there was no time to organize ; 
but the idea was thrown out, and it would already have 
been difficult to prevent its development." 

After another year of preliminary action, a meeting 
was finally held in St. Martin's Hall, London, September 
28th, 1864, at which the Association was fairly launched 



78 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

on the social sea. It is important to observe that no polit- 
ical influence appears to have prompted this combination. 
Both the English and French leaders in the organization 
were strongly democratic in their views. George Odger, 
the English leader, was a liberal, and Lucien Tolain, was 
a member of the Left in the French National Assembly 
after the days of the Commune in 1871. But it is clear 
that in the St. Martin's Hall meeting, politics was not 
the subject which engrossed their chief attention. 

Between the Association at St. Martin's Hall and the 
Leicester Square Colony of political exiles, there was in 
fact a marked coolness from the very first. The exiles 
were, after all, bourgeois in the eyes of the French mem- 
bers of the International, and neither had nor desired a 
share in a movement which had for its object,*' the eman- 
cipation of the workingmen," and not the interests of 
Jacobinism ; while on the other hand the French found- 
ers of the International, were long distrusted by repub- 
licans, and charged with Bonapartist tendancies. What 
else could men expect who professed to represent the 
toiling masses, and to be republicans, who nevertheless 
stood aloof from political conspiracy ? 

The form of organization adopted at St. Martin's Hall 
is simple but efficient. The business of the Association 
is managed by a General Council, which has its seat in 
London. This body, with the aid of Secretaries for the 
different languages spoken by the Internationalists, con- 
ducts the correspondence with the various Boards of 
Supervision in every country where the Association has 
an existence ; watches all events which affect the general 
interests; shapes the business to be laid before the annu- 
al Congress ; collects and gives information, and in every 



THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 79 

way performs the functions of a living bond of Union 
between the organized workingmen of different countries. 
The International has no President, that office having 
been abolished by a solemn vote of the Congress, held 
at Brussels, in 1868, as a relict of monarchism, even 
though but an honorary position divested of all power. 

The Council at London is appointed by the Congress 
composed of delegates from all the branches of the In- 
ternational, and is therefore a sort of legislative body, 
which is supposed to represent the will of the mass. 

The Congress itself is a peculiar body, drawn as it is 
from nearly all the countries in Europe and America. 
Its business is transacted in the English, French, German, 
Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Polish and Bohemian langua- 
ges. 

But what is the purpose of this Association? The 
statutes, framed in 1864, declare that the Association is 
founded in order " to procure a central medium of com- 
munication and co-operation between workingmen's 
societies existing in different countries, and aiming toward 
the same end, viz : the protection and advancement, the 
complete emancipation of the working classes." The 
preamble recites that the subjection of workingmen to 
capital is the source of all political, moral, and material 
servitude ; that their enfranchisement is not a local or 
national problem, but concerns all civilized nations: and 
that their efforts in this direction ought not to tend to the 
establisment of class privileges, but to secure the same 
rights and duties for all. The design is to unite all 
societies of workingmen in every country into one great 
national society, subject always to the laws of the na- 
tion. "We wish," said the Secretaries of the organiza- 



80 THE GKEAT STRIKES. * 

tion in Paris, " to found an association which by study, 
may bring on by degrees the emancipation of labor." 
" It is a Society for study, and not a new Carbonari" 
exclaimed Fribourg, one of their ablest orators at the 
Congress of Basle, in 1865. It is evident that the found- 
ers of the International were profoundly imbued with 
the conviction that capital now holds labor in subjection, 
and it is probable they all inclined to socialistic arrange- 
ments of some sort. Still, there is no evidence upon 
which a charge can be brought against them of enter- 
taining designs of forcibly overturning existing society. 
But like thousands of schemers before, they have found 
it easier to arouse popular forces to activity, than to con- 
trol them afterwards. There were men of learning and 
depth of thought in the earlier stages of the Internation- 
als. Fribourg, Dr. Paepe, of Brussels, Garibaldi, Dr. 
Karl Marx, a man of remarkable erudition, and others* 
There was a rupture in the Congress of Lausanne, in 

1867. The Socialists had gained an ascendency. The 
roll of the Association at that time contained the names 
of men and womem, little known for the most part ex- 
cept in the obscure history of that seething radicalism of 
which Brussels and Geneva are the foci. In the eyes of 
these men, Louis Blanc was a reactionary, Mazzini a 
friend of oppressors, and Garibaldi himself little better 
than an aristocrat in his ideas and opinions. 

" The League of Peace and Liberty," met at Berne, in 

1868. To this body the Congress of the Internationals, 
then in session at Brussels, sent a resolution of unexam- 
pled frankness, informing " the League," that its presence 
in the world was unnecessary, and recommending it to 
dissolve and inviting its members to join sections of the 



THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 81 

Internationals. To a portion of the League this propo- 
sition was not unwelcome; and when, upon the introduc- 
tion of resolutions favoring the equalization of classes and 
individuals, the extreme communist party finding itself 
in the minority, it withdrew in wrath, formed the "Inter- 
national Alliance of the Socialist Democracy," and declar- 
ed itself a branch of the International. 

This Alliance proclaimed itself atheistic, and demanded 
the political and economical equalization of all classes 
and both sexes, together with the ownership in common., 
not only of land, but of all instruments of labor and all 
other capital ; and it even called for the uniform educa- 
tion of children from their birth, in order to remove all 
individual inequalities. 

The adhesion of these rabid radicals was accepted by the 
International, and the alliance continued in existence for 
some years, when it was dissolved, August 1871, and "the 
incident of the socialist democracy," was declared by the 
London Congress of the International, to be "finished." 

In this country, the Internationals were organized as 
early as 1865, but it does not appear that the Association 
grew very rapidly. Indeed, there is reason to believe 
that the first missionaries in the cause of this new phase 
of socialism, only sought to accomplish one of the objects 
of the International — viz, the fraternization and practical 
unity of all the workingmen's societies in the United 
States. 

Accordingly we find Mr. "W. H. Sylvis, President of 
" The National Workingmen's Union," in correspondence 
with the Congress of Basle. The letter breathes the true 
spirit of International sentiment. 

" Our cause," says Mr. Sylvis, "is a common one ; it is 

6 



'82 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

-a "war between poverty and wealth. **■*■* Our 
late war resulted in the building up of the most infam- 
ous moneyed aristocracy on the face of the earth. This 
moneyed power is fast eating up the substance of the 
people. We have made war upon it, and we mean to 
win. If we can, we will win through the ballot box ; if 
;not — then we will resort to sterner means. A little blood 
letting is sometimes necessary in desperate cases." This 
was written long before the panic and the date of "hard 
times." The purpose was then felt to do what we have 
seen attempted. 

Mr. Sylvis died in 1868, but his mantle has fallen on 
'Other shoulders. The ill-odor of " the incident of the 
.Social Democracy," the close alliance between the Inter- 
national and the people who overthrew the Column 
' Yendome, and applied the torch to the Louvre in 1871, 
made the name distasteful to the masses of the people in 
this country. This fact induced a change of name to 
that of the" Workingmen's Party of the United States," 
without, however, modifying a single principle held by 
:the Internationals in Europe, except in so far as modifica- 
tion was necessary in order to adopt it to the conditions 
cOf government and social organization here. 

■The policy of bringing all the workingmen's societies 
into harmonious relations, has been sedulously pursued, 
and with a degree of success attending the effort well 
(Calculated to startle the conservative publicist. Perhaps 
in no county in Europe is the International in a more 
prosperous condition, as an organization, than in this 
country; perhaps in no region is their relative numerical 
strength greater than in America. Fifteen weekly pub- 
lications, serve as a medium of communication, and as a 



THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 83 

propaganda of their principles. Since 1873, particularly, 
they have increased with amazing rapidity, and now have 
Sections in nearly all the States. The whole numbers of 
these Sections at present are three hundred and sixty, 
and the number of persons in organic affiliation is claimed 
to be more than six hundred thousand. 

'Not are they destitute of leaders of culture and capac- 
ity. Mr. John Swinton, a capable journalist on the 
editorial staff of the New York Sun, newspaper, is an 
able champion of their principles. 

The Board of Supervision is located at New Haven, 
Connecticut, with M. K. Goldsmith, as Secretary. The 
Executive Committee has its headquarters at Chicago, 
Illinois, Philip Yan Patten, Corresponding Secretary, 
and George Schilling, Financial Secretary. 

That " The Working-men's Party of the United States," 
is the same in principle and purpose as " The Interna- 
tional Association of Workingmen " in Europe, is suffi- 
ciently proved by comparing the platform of principles 
with the statutes of St. Martin's Hall, framed in 1864, 
and subsequently, in the main, re-affirmed by the Con- 
gress at Basle. 

The following are their acknowledged formulae of doc- 
trines : — 

The emancipation of the working classes must be 
achieved by the working classes themselves, independent 
of all political parties of the propertied class. 

The struggle for the emancipation of the working 
classes means not a struggle for class privileges and mon- 
opolies, but for equal rights and duties, and the abolition 
of all class rule. 

The economical subjection of the man of labor to the 



84 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

monopolizer of the means of labor, the sources of life 
lies at the bottom of servitude in all its forms, of all 
social misery, mental degradation, and political depend- 
ence. 

The economical emancipation of the working classes 
is therefore the great end to which every political move- 
ment ought to be subordinate as a means. 

All efforts aiming at that great end have hitherto failed 
from want of solidarity between the manifold divisions 
of labor in each country, and from the absence of con- 
certed action between the workingmen of all countries. 

The emancipation of labor is neither a local nor a na- 
tional, but a social problem, embracing all countries in 
which modern society exists, and depending for its solu- 
tion upon the practical and theoretical concurrence and 
co-operation of the most advanced countries. 

For these reasons, the Workingmen's Party of the 
United States has been founded. 

It enters into proper relation and connection with the 
workingmen of other countries. 

Whereas, Political liberty without economical freedom 
is but an empty phrase ; therefore, we will in the first 
place direct our efforts to the economical question. We 
repudiate entire connection with all political parties of 
the propertied classes without regard to their name. 

We demand that all the means of labor, (land, mach- 
inery, railroads, telegraphs, canals, etc.) become the com- 
mon property of the whole people, for the purpose of 
abolishing the wages system, and substituting in its place 
co-operative production with a just distribution of its 
rewards. 

The political action of the party is confined geneially 



THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 85 

to obtaining legislative acts in the interests of the work- 
ing class proper. It will not enter into a political cam- 
paign before being strong enough to exercise a perceptible 
influence, and then in the first place locally in the towns 
or cities, when demands of a purely local character may 
bo presented, providing they are not in conflict with the 
platform and principles of the Party. 

We work for the organization of the Trades Unions 
upon a national and international basis, to ameliorate the 
condition of the working people and seek to spread there- 
in the above principles. 

The Workingmen's Party of the United States pro 
poses to introduce the following measures, as a means to 
improve the condition of the working classes : 

1. Eight hours for the present as a normal working 
•day, and legal punishment of all violators. 

2. Sanitary inspection of all conditions of labor, 
.means of subsistence and dwellings included. 

3. Establishment of bureaus of labor statistics in all 
States as well as by the National Government ; the offi- 
cers of these bureaus to be taken from the ranks of the 
labor organizations and elected fyy them. 

4. Prohibition of the use of prison labor by private 
employers. 

5. Prohibitory laws against the employment of child- 
ren under fourteen years of age in industrial establish- 
ments. 

6. Gratuitous instruction in all educational institu- 
tions. 

7. Strict laws making employers liable for all acci- 
dents to the injury of their employes. 



#0 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

8. Gratuitous administration of justice in all courts 
of law. 

9. Abolition of all conspiracy laws. 

10. Railroads, telegraphs, and all means of transpor- 
tation to be taken hold of and operated by the Govern- 
ment. 

11. All industrial enterprises to be placed under the 
control of the Government as fast as practicable and op- 
erated by free co-operative trades unions for the good of 
the whole people. 

Such are the Utopian schemes of the organization, 
which stood behind the strikes ; which prompted the 
mobs, and brought victims to death at Baltimore, at Pitts- 
burgh, at Chicago, and Reading, and for a time threat- 
ened the institutions of the country with disaster and 
ruin. 

Still, there is no just cause for alarm. The Interna- 
tionalists are wanting in the coolness necessary to plan,, 
and the faculty essential in effecting organization. Until 
men rise much higher, or fall much lower than they now 
are, community of property will not long command the 
support of any large body, except under the influence of 
religious fervor ; and of that quality the Internationalists 
could not well have less. To collect a loose body of fol- 
lowers by exciting mere hatred of what exists is easy ; 
but to direct the whole towards some specific substitute 
is not only difficult, but we may predict, impossible. The 
International draws its strength from agitation, created 
by an impression now universally pervading the laboring 
classes of the civilized world, that of the results of the 
progress of modern society labor does not enjoy its due 
ghare. That there is, right or wrong, a general uneasi- 



THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 87 

ness and sense of injustice ; that there is, in truth, some- 
thing to be righted, is undeniable. That a body like the 
Internationalists will ever discover what this is that needs 
to be righted, still more that it will ever right the wrong, 
we do not believe. The work both of investigation and 
of remedy must be done by cooler heads, by more in- 
etructed minds, and by men who will arrogate neither 
for capital, nor for labor, any unjust advantage. This 
work has been too long neglected, but it is a service 
which must be performed. And if properly performed^ 
with sincere purpose, and concientions resolution, we hope 
to find the means of ending the present conflict of natur- 
ally harmonious interests, and of avoiding the chief 
danger which now threatens modern civilization. This 
done we shall hear no more of the International, except 
as it may continue to alarm and torment those who are 
not yet, just enough or sufficiently bold and strong to 
rise to the dignity of demanding equal justice to all. 

The causes which make it possible for the Internation- 
alists to exist in this country must be removed. They can 
only exist in an element of social unrest. They came 
forth recently only to pull down, they cannot build. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The Reign of Anarchy. 



The Commune in Baltimore— A paralyzed State Government — An 
Appeal to the President — A Perilous Situation — Apprehensions 
felt by the Administration — Another Riot — Clubs and Skulls — 
A mob of twelve thousand people — From the Atlantic to the Mis- 
sissippi — The Country in an Uproar — Precautions — Unparalled 
Demonstrations. 



Startling as was the collision on Friday night, in the 
streets of Baltimore, that event had become but an 
episode — an incident no longer to be remembered before 
the close of another day. The smaller and less important 
was lost in the greater and more momentous events 
transpiring all over the country. What mattered a few 
volleys, what importance could longer attach to the 
death of ten or twelve obscure individuals in Baltimore, 
when the whole country was in an uproar, when no 
human foresight could determine that a reign of devas- 
tation and death, such as had never before afflicted the 
world, might not commence at any time? The appear- 
ance of the Commune, bold, audacious, apparently organ- 
ized, was a matter for more serious concern than the 
death of a few roughs, and some innocent citizens by the 
fatal discharge of musketry in the streets of Baltimore. 
Strikes were occurring almost every hour. The great 
State of Pennsylvania was in an uproar; New Jersey 
was afflicted by a paralyzing dread; New York was mus- 
tering an army of militia ; Ohio was shaken from Lake 



THE REIGN OF ANARCHY. 89 

Erie to the Ohio river ; Indiana rested in a dreadful sus- 
pense. Illinois, and especially its great metropolis, 
Chicago, apparently hung on the verge of a vortex of 
confusion and tumult. St. Louis had already felt the 
effect of the premonitory shocks of the uprising wave of 
popular passion. 

And yet in the public mind, there was no well defined 
fear of dreadful deeds to be committed by railroad 
strikers. The public mind was settled in the conviction 
that the strikers would interrupt traffic on the highways 
of commerce by quitting their posts, and even by threats 
and violence preventing others from taking their places, 
but such acts, if lawless, were regarded at most as but 
venial faults. There was an abiding confidence in the 
good character and honorable disposition of the working 
men as a class. The public refused to believe that a 
class of persons who had contributed so much toward 
building up the country by their toil, and devotion to 
duty, could in the short space of a few days become un- 
tamed savages — merciless plunderers and murderers. 

It was not, therefore the fusilades, and the bloody 
results of the collision at Baltimore that engaged public 
attention. It was that which appeared " beneath the sur- 
face." The event itself was nothing, but that which was 
revealed by it, was everything. Behind the strikers men 
beheld a more dreadful force. It was the awful presence 
of that socialism, which has more than once made Europe 
tremble on account of its energy, its despotism, its fearful 
atrocities. The smoke had scarcely cleared away from the 
streets, when the character of the Baltimore mob was 
revealed in all its hideousness. The Commune had 
found a place in America. Taking advantage of the dis- 



90 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

orders caused by the strike, these socialistic disorganizes 
appeared on the scene, and displayed a boldness and 
energy really awe-inspiring. Who could say that the 
Red Lady might not soon appear to garner a ghastly 
harvest of bodiless heads? 

Events happening in other sections of the country, 
had called public attention away from the situation in 
Baltimore, and the region along the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad. But, the condition of affairs there was still 
critical in the extreme. The mob had not been subdued,, 
scarcely even checked. True, the militia was able to 
hold the depot of the railroad, but the city itself was in 
imminent danger. , About twelve hundred striking can- 
makers, box-makers, and other factory operatives, were 
thronging the streets. In the wake of these came the 
rabble, numbering thousands, and then came the railroad 
men, badgered and exasperated by the repressive meas- 
ures adopted against them by the civil and military author- 
ities, and behind them all were the communistic commit- 
tees, acting upon each, manipulating and plotting, organ- 
izing and inflaming the minds of the lower classes, 
against the order of society, by appealing to their baser 
passions, and denouncing all whose condition in life was 
better than theirs as thieves and plunderers, who deserved 
almost any fate that the most infernal malice could sug- 
gest. 

The day after the conflict, the Executive Committee 
of the Internationalists called a conference at JlSTo. 20 
Bond street, to devise a plan of action in prosecuting a 
campaign "against the propertied classes." There is 
reason to believe that they deliberately encouraged the 
opinion among the rabble that to them belonged a por- 



THE REIGN OF ANAECHY. 91 

tion of the accumulated wealth of the city, and that it 
was not only the right, but the duty of the vagrants, 
thieves and tramps congregated in Baltimore, to proceed 
by force to possess themselves of their share. At all 
events the conduct of the mobs in the streets was over- 
bearing and threatening. The experiences of the night 
before had not taught them any considerable amount of 
respect for the militia, and it was evident, to even a 
casual observer, that some formidable organized move- 
ment was on foot among the malcontents. Penetrated 
with this conviction ; knowing the inefficiency of the- 
forces at his command, and dreading the consequence of 
a failure to meet promptly any designs of the mob, Gov- 
ernor Carroll, at the time the mob fired the depot, 
decided to make a formal call upon the President of the 
United States for assistance. Accordingly, the Governor 
announced to the President that there were unlawful 
combinations in the commonwealth of Maryland which 
the authorities of the State were unable to successfully 
combat, and asking the assistance of United States troops. 
In response to this call, Secretary of War McCrary,. 
telegraphed that he was directed by the President to say 
that assistance would be given to the extent of the 
power of the government, but intimating that it might 
be necessary to call on neighboring States for assistance. 
Adjutant General Yincent informed the Secretary of 
War that General Barry, at Fort McHenry, was con- 
venient to the scene, and had three field pieces ready. 
General Barry was immediately ordered to report to the 
Governor of Maryland for orders. Meanwhile the Presi- 
dent issued another proclamation, the second since the 
strikes commenced, couched in terms similar to those 



92 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

employed on the former occasion, when called upon 
by Governor Matthews of West Virginia. 

The Collector of the port of Baltimore, Hon. John L. 
Thomas, Jr., becoming alarmed for the safety of the 
Government property entrusted to his care, sent a des- 
patch to the Secretary of War, requesting troops to pro- 
tect it. The military posts about Washington and Balti- 
more were already drained of troops, and the Secretary of 
War replied asking a more definite statement in regard 
to the character of the troubles, and asking if he could not 
enlist citizens to protect Government property if author- 
ized to do so. The revenue cutter Ewing, then lying in 
the harbor, was ordered by the Collector to immediately 
proceed to Locust Point, and take up a position to pro- 
tect the Government bonded warehouses located there- 
Captain Fengar proceeded at once to carry out these in- 
structions. General Barry, placing himself under the 
•orders of Governor Carroll, brought up three field pieces 
and took up a position to command the piers and railway 
buildings at Locust Point. 

The conduct of the Fifth Regiment Maryland National 
Guards, had won for that organization unqualified praise, 
.and upon them the hopes of the citizens of Baltimore 
for protection largely depended. The Sixth had not 
been so successful in gaining the good will of the citi- 
zens, though it was conceded that its Commander, Colo- 
nel Clarence Peters, had particularly distinguished him- 
self. It was the Sixth which was so persistently assailed 
by the mob the night of the 20th of July, and which 
had fired upon and committed such havoc among the 
rioters. 

During the day, five hundred special policemen were 



THE REIGN OF ANARCHY. 93 

sworn in, armed and assigned to duty. Every exertion 
was made to be fully prepared for any emergency that 
might arise. The forces at command at best were weak 
to combat a reckless, wrathful mob, numbering many 
thousands. But the very best possible diposition was 
made of them, and as events proved the disposition of 
the forces was not uncalled for. 

During the morning of the 21st the remains of the 
ten men killed by the Sixth Regiment of militia, the 
preceding evening, were removed from the Middle Police 
Station to their late homes. A vast multitude had col- 
lected. Each body had been placed in a coffin, and was 
borne from the Station house to the wagon which waited 
to receive it, on the shoulders of four police officers. A 
profound silence pervaded the vast assemblage, as the 
procession of policemen proceeded with their mournful 
work. 

It was deflnitly ascertained that twenty-two persons in 
the crowd had been seriously wounded by the fusilades 
of the soldiers. 

The soldiers who were wounded by the missiles of the 
mob were Lieutenant W. EL Rogers, Captain W. Y, 
Herbert, Lieutenant Forney Spear, Sergeant Armstrong, 
Corporal Heywood, Sergeant Dull, Privates McKenzie, 
Lewis, Price, Wanderly, Shurry, Flack, and Lieutenant 
Sadler. 

There were no outbreaks during the day, but it was 
evident the mob meant mischief after nightfall. It was 
surmised that the day had been employed in organizing 
and preparing for a night attack. Groups of men were 
observed in vacant lots, and other retired localities appa- 
rently engaged in deep and earnest conference. In halls, 



*®4 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

in various parts of the city, mysterious meetings were 
held, and no little apprehension was felt that the night 
would bring scenes of riot and bloodshed. 

But as the night advanced and no outbreak had taken 
place, the citizens began to congratulate themselves on 
their escape from the imminent danger which had im- 
pended. Up to ten o'clock nothing unusual had occurred. 
The streets were more crowded and the pedestrians who 
surged back and forth appeared more restless than in 
ordinary times, buj; that was all. ;At thirty-five minutes 
past ten o'clock, intelligence was rapidly diffused through 
the central portion of the city, that a mob, variously es- 
timated at from ten to fifteen thousand men, had collected, 
and were moving on the streets converging on the Cam- 
den Station. Immediately the excitement became gen- 
eral. The force on duty at the Station was not sufficiently 
large to repel a mob of such overwhelming numbers. 
The report proved in the main correct. After eight 
o'clock, the guards on duty at the depot, became aware 
of a movement among the rioters. Crowds began to 
assemble on the streets leading toward the depot. Pre- 
parations were made to meet them. The picket lines 
were drawn in; the positions held by the soldiers were 
strengthened; orders were given to load with ball car- 
tridges, and every possible precaution taken to prevent 
surprise by a sudden rush of the mob. The men stood 
to their arms in battle array. 

Meanwhile, a large body of police was got ready, and 
marched rapidly toward the station on the Lee street 
side. By this time the mob was becoming noisy and 
demonstrative. Among the rioters were a considerable 
number of women and girls, who played the part of pet- 



THE REIGN OF ANARCHY. 95 

roleuses, boldly urging the men on to acts of outrage and 
bloodshed. The number of rioters in the vicinity is 
believed to have been not less than ten thousand. The 
police force marched briskly around, and struck the mass 
of rioters on Eutaw street, on a charge, at the same time 
firing their pistols, and routed them, making a breach 
through the throng. The rioters retreated in haste up 
Eutaw street, and began to tear up the pavement, arming 
themselves with formidable missiles. The police only 
paused long enough to secure the prisoners they had 
taken, when they again charged the mob, making a great 
noise by firing their pistols, which were charged with 
blank cartridges. The rioters had had no time to com- 
plete their preparations, to devise a plan of action, or 
even get well armed with paving stones. However, they 
made some show of resistence, but the police force wield- 
ing their clubs with great determination and vigor, 
speedily triumphed and once more put the mob to flight. 
About fifty of them were captured, taken to the station, 
tied with ropes, and laid out in the gentlemen's waiting 
room. 

\ This vigorous assault of the police produced a very 
salutary effect upon the mob, which after some noisy 
demonstrations, such as shouting and jeering at the po- 
lice and the soldiers, finally dispersed. The majority of 
the rioters captured proved to be young roughs. The 
appearance of women among the rioters was something 
unusual in this country, and the further fact stated that 
the women were the boldest and most heartless creatures 
in the mob, is a circumstance of no little significance. 
The night passed away without any further disturbance. 
Still the public mind was in a state of unrest, doubt and 
apprehension. 



96 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

At Cumberland about three o'clock on the 21st, a train 
arrived from Keyser with two companies of United 
States regulars, under command of Captain Litchfield. 
There was a large number of strikers and roughs assem- 
bled at the depot. When the troops left the train the 
crowd derided them, and as they marched away to their 
quarters the rioters became so threatening that the 
soldiers were ordered to a halt, and brought their arms 
to "a charge bayonets," when the crowd fell back. This 
was the first instance since the commencement of the 
strike, that regular soldiers of the United States had 
failed to receive respectful treatment. Two other com- 
panies under Captain Rogers arrived at Cumberland later 
in the day. 

The strikers at Cumberland were perhaps the most de- 
fiant of any along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road. A large number of them were Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal -boat in en, who had struck several weeks before, and 
another portion were Baltimore and Ohio rolling mill 
men who had been thrown out of employment on account 
of the Company "closing down" some two months before- 
There was now at Cumberland a force of one hundred and 
thirty-five regular troops, well equipped and provided with 
extra ammunition. The presence of the soldiers had a 
quieting effect upon the strikers. Nevertheless, they as- 
sumed a tone of semi-defiance. The Mayor of Cumberland 
was in open sympathy with the strikers, and was at no- 
pains to conceal his opinions. When it was announced that 
a large party of canal-boatmen were on the way to that 
town, and a delegation waited on him, asking him to 
issue his proclamation closing the drinking saloons, he 
flatly refused to comply with the request. Colonel 



THE REIGN OF ANARCHY. 97 

Douglas, Aid-de-camp to Governor Carroll, had taken up 
his quarters at Cumberland. The Railroad Company was 
represented by Mr. Sharp, master of transportation, and 
Counsellor Cowan at that point. 

The strike had now assumed such proportions; the 
public mind had become so excited ; the popular feeling 
bo divided, and the military resources of the country 
were so limited that the administration had become 
thoroughly alarmed at the threatening posture of affairs. 
The bold and persistent attack made by the mob on the 
militia at Baltimore, had awakened no little apprehen- 
sion in the highest official circles at the National Capital, 
"Washington itself was considered to be in danger. A 
consultation between the President and members of his 
Cabinet took place on the morning of the 20th, when it 
was decided that no further depletion of the military and 
naval forces at the capital ought to be made. The order 
which had been issued to send the Marine Corps to 
Baltimore was revoked, and they were ordered to remain 
with their arms ready to move at any moment. Later 
in the day the intelligence received induced the Presi- 
dent and Cabinet to take other precautionary steps for 
the protection of the property of the Government, and 
especially to provide for the defence of the Treasury. 
In pursuance of this purpose troops were ordered from 
Portress Monroe. The war-vessels Swatara and Pow- 
hattan, of the North Atlantic Squadron, were directed to 
take on board the sailors and marines stationed at 
Norfolk, and on the national vessels in that vicinity^ 
and proceed at once to the Potomac, to remain at the 
Navy Yard, Washington. The effective strength of this 
force was not greater than seven hundred and fifty men. 

7 



98 TIIE GREAT STEIKES. 

They arrived the following morning ready equipped for 
immediate duty. All the metropolitan police of the 
district were summoned to duty. The gathering of the 
mob at Baltimore, which the police subsequently dis- 
persed, and the grave apprehension created in conse- 
quence of that assemblage, of which facts the Government 
was apprised, was deemed an emergency of sufficient 
magnitude to call for immediate action. Accordingly 
two companies of marines were ordered from Washing- 
ton at a late hour of the evening. As this force marched 
through the streets, a great crowd gathered along the 
route, saluted them with groans and hisses. It was a 
singular demonstration in the Capital of a nation, when 
its defenders were thus jeered by the populace. In the 
vicinity of the newspaper offices crowds had collected 
to read the dispatches as they were bulletined. Any- 
thing indicating the success of the strikers was loudly 
cheered. 

A strong police force was placed on guard at the Treas- 
ury building. These civic guards were supplied with 
additional firearms. 

A notice was served on the Agent of the Adams 
Express Company at Washington, requiring him to de- 
cline all valuable packages. In consequence the daily 
shipment of bands and currency from the Treasury could 
not be made. 

It was formally announced that the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad Company would make no further efforts 
to run trains on their line for the time being. 

Thus, the efforts~of a gigantic corporation, supplemen- 
ted by the whole power of the Government to protect 
and aid it, were ineffective to raise a blockade on one of 



THE REIGN OF ANARCHY. 99 

the great thoroughfares of the nation, when that blockade 
was enforced only by a number of stokers and brakeinen 
without financial credit or political patronage. Thus the 
movement had gone on until the National Government 
found itself powerless for the time being to suppress it. 
The strikers had now become a mighty power. With 
a purpose of revolution, with organization and leadership, 
it was within the grasp of the railroad employes and 
other classes of laborers to have taken absolute possession 
of every commercial center in the nation ; aye ! even to 
have overturned the Government itself ! 



CHAPTEE IX. 



The Trouble in Pennsylvania. 



Beginning of the Stiikes — The Cause Assigned — The System of 
"Double Headers" — Formidable Character of the Movement — - 
Freight Transportation Suspended — No Concessions — Measures of 
Repression Taken — Dangerous Indications in Pittsburgh. 



Thursday morning, July 19th, 1877, the trainmen of 
the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, apparently without 
previous agreement, refused to take out any freight trains 
from Pittsburgh. The strike was fairly inaugurated at 
that place. Not a freight train left the station that day. 
At night great strings of cars occupied the track between 
the city and the Stock Yards at East Liberty. The cause 
assigned by the men for their action was the determina- 
tion of the Company to introduce what is known among 
railroad men as " double headers." The effect of this 
system is to enable the Company to dispense with a num- 
ber of employes, and impose the duties performed by 
them on those allowed to remain. The employes claim r 
that by a "double header," which is two trains attached, 
with an engine to draw and one to push, that two trains 
were taken to Altoona, a distance of one hundred and 
sixteen miles from Pittsburgh, instead of one to Derry r 
which is forty-eight miles, which was formerly the run 
of a freight train crew, and regarded as a day's work. 
Under the new system of " double heading," two trains 
were required to be taken the whole distance to Altoona 



THE TROUBLE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 101 

by one crew, of brakemen and that for a day's work. 
This was regarded as a very great hardship by the train- 
men, especially as they had been compelled to submit to 
& reduction of wages, amounting to ten per cent, which 
went into effect June first. 

The action of the Company in reducing the wages and 
then immediately afterward attempting to impose double 
service on the men, aroused popular indignation outside 
of the ranks of the railroad men. Indeed the masses of 
the citizens of Western Pennsylvania believed that the 
Railroad Company was guilty of a flagrant act of oppresr- 
sion, and deserved the severest reprobation of every one 
possessing any conception of justice or sense of humanity. 
This wide spread sentiment among the people, gave to 
the strikers at once an immense moral strength, and 
went far to extenuate and excuse any acts of violence 
which they might commit in their efforts to obtain re- 
dress of wrongs which the public believed they endured* 
There is no evidence that the strike which commenced 
at the Pittsburgh freight yards had been pre-arranged 
by the trainmen. 

The commencement of the troubles appear to have 
been the action of Conductor Ryan's crew which was 
to have taken out an early freight train that morning. 
These men sent a message to the train despatcher, in- 
forming him that they would not take out their train. 
The despatcher then ordered two yard crews to take out 
the cars. The yard men declared "that the service 
required was not according to their engagement," and 
declined to obey the order, when they were immediately 
dismissed from the service of the Company. Subse- 
quently, Conductor Gordon sent two men to take out 



102 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

an engine, but by this time the two yard crews which; 
had been dismissed, and Conductor .Ryan's crew which 
had struck were at the yard and positively refused to 
allow the men to run the engine out. Again an attempt 
was made by Gordon to send out an engine, but this 
time the strikers having been re-enforced drove the men, 
away from the locomotive by stoning them. 

After the trouble had once commenced at tho outer 
depot, a party of the strikers at once proceeded to the 
East Liberty Stock Yards to have a conference with the 
train and yard men there, which resulted in the whole 
number of them joining in the strike. The trains were 
all run on sidings and left standing. The strikers then 
took complete possession of the main track, and stopped 
all freight trains whether bound east or west. In all 
cases the crews, of arrested trains, joined with the strik- 
ers. Before noon the striking trainmen had gained so 
rapidly in numbers that they could enforce any demand 
they might choose to make. A party of them proceeded 
to Brinton, the same evening, and stopped a west bound 
freight train at that point. Not a freight engine on the 
Pennsylvania Railway was suffered to be moved during 
the day in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. 

That evening, at Phoenix Hall, on Eleventh street, a 
meeting of trainmen was held at which the following 
ultimatum, to be presented to the Company, was agreed 
npon, and a committee appointed to present it : 

" 1. The undersigned, a committee appointed by the 
employes of the of the Western Division of the Penn- 
sylvania Railway, hereby demand from said Company^ 
through its proper officers, the wages, as per departments, 
of engineers, firemen, conductors, and brakemen, received 
prior to June 1, 1877. 



THE TROUBLE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 103 

2. That each and every employe that has been dis- 
missed for taking part or parts in the present strike, or 
meetings held prior to or during said strike, be restored 
to their positions held prior to the strike. 

3. That the classification of each of said departments 
be abolished now and forever hereafter; that engineers 
And conductors receive the same wages received by en- 
gineers and conductors of the highest class prior to June 
1 5 1877. 

4. That the running of double trains be abolished, 
excepting coal trains. 

5. That each and every engine, whether road or shift- 
ing, shall have its own fireman." 

The excitement had become intense along the line of 
the road. A brakeman named McCall had made an as- 
sault on one of the officials of the roal,for which he was 
arrested. The strikers took sides with him and threat- 
ened to release him by force. 

A meeting of all the workingmen of Pittsburgh was 
called to assemble on Friday evening. To this mass con- 
vention it was expected that representatives of every 
trade would come. The different trades union of the 
city had already signified their hearty sympathy, and had 
made offers of moral and material support to the rail- 
road strikers. Although the strike only commencsd a 
few hours before, yet it had become formidable for mis- 
chief. 

The Sheriff of Alleghany County, ?t the request of 
the railroad officials, about twelve o'clock at night visited 
the headquarters of the strikers at Twenty-eigth street, 
and ordered them to disperse. This they refused to do. 
Sheriff Fife remained there until after three o'clock in 



104 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the morning, but his authority was defied. He was 
frankly informed that trains should not go out if they 
could prevent it, and they did not care for any posse he 
could muster, or any troops that could be brought 
against them. Finding the strikers were determined not 
to yield to the civil authorities, the Sheriff resolved upon 
appealing to the State Government for aid. Accordingly 
lie sent a despatch to the Governor at Harrisburg, in 
which he recited that : A tumult, riot and mob existed 
on the Pennsylvania Railroad at East Liberty, and in the 
Twelfth Ward of Pittsburgh. Large assemblages of 
people were upon the Railroad, and the movement of 
freight trains either east or west was prevented by intimi- 
dation and violence, molesting and obstructing the engin- 
eers and other employes of the Railroad Company in the 
discharge of their duties. As the Sheriff of the county, 
he had endeavored to suppress the riot and had not 
adequate means at his command to do so, and he there- 
fore requested the Governor to exercise his authority in 
calling out the military to suppress the same. 

At 3:17 o'clock in the morning, Friday, Sheriff Fife 
received a despatch from Adjutant General James W. 
Latta, announcing that he had ordered Major General 
Pearson to place a regiment of militia at his disposition 
to enforce compliance with the law. 

About half past three o'clock a. m., General Pearson 
was found, and having received the proper authorization 
from the Governor, he ordered " the Eighteenth Regi- 
ment to assemble at the Central Armory fully uniformed, 
armed and equipped for duty, at 6:30 a. m. Colonel P. 
N. Guthrie was ordered to report for duty with his com- 
mand at the Union Depot, at seven o'clock sharp." 



THE TEOTJBLE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 105 

At this time Governor Hartranft was absent from the 
State, he having gone to the West. The Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, Hon. John Latta, acting Governor, declined to 
issue any proclamation on the ground that he had no 
constitutional right to do so. Notwithstanding this fact, 
some persons, presuming very largely on the ignorance 
of the strikers, hopeing for good effects, prepared and had 
posted up everywhere along the road and about the 
yards, a bogus proclamation purporting to have been issued 
by Governor Hartranft. The strikers knowing that the 
Governor was not in the State, and that Secretary of 
State Quay, whose name appeared signed to the procla- 
mation, was at Beaver, forty miles west of Pittsburgh, 
and knowing that the militia had no right to fire upon 
them, hailed the appearance of the bogus poster at seven 
o'clock Friday morning, with jeers and derision. Of 
course no respect to the injunction of the pseudo docu- 
ment was paid. 

At noon, Friday, July 20th, the strikers, and other 
workingmen held a meeting in the yards of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company, which was attended by a 
vast throng of people. One of the railroad men mounted 
a box and read a despatch from Hornellsville, N. Y., 
signed by B. J. Donahue, announcing that the firemen 
and brakemen on the New York and Erie Road had quit 
work that morning. This piece of intelligence was re- 
ceived with the wildest demonstrations of satisfaction by 
the strikers and their friends. 

Soon after, the Fourteenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth 
Regiments of State Guards arrived and were stationed 
along the tracks. The strikers were nothing daunted by 
these military preparations. The crowd had grown into 



106 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

an immense multitude. On the engine which had drawn 
a train load of soldiers were General Pearson, Sheriff 
Fife and Superintendent Pitcairn of the Pennsylvania 
Company. The Sheriff immediately mounted the ten- 
der and read the Governor's Proclamation, amid the 
hoots and cries of the spectators. He counselled peace, 
and assured them the law would be enforced, cost what 
it might. The crowd jeered at him, and when he de- 
scended General Pearson got on the tender, and ad- 
dressing the crowd said there appeared to be a disposition 
to treat the matter lightly. He warned them that the 
affair was a very serious one. No man had more sym- 
pathy for them than he had; but he was under orders 
from the Governor, and those who knew him, knew that 
he would obey. He assured them that it was useless to 
attempt to further stop the working of the road ; that 
the trains must go through. While he was speaking he 
was interrupted with cries of " Who are you?" " Give us 
bread," and similar cries. When speaking of the trains, 
one man yelled out, "What trains? Passenger trains? 
Certainly we allow them to go through." 

" Yes," said General Pearson, " and all other trains ; 
even if they have nothing but pig metal in them, must 
be permitted to go." 

Another striker asked to be heard, and said he did not 
see why the military were there. The men had done no 
act of violence, he said, nor did they intend to do any. 
"Will you allow trains to go through?" asked the Gen- 
eral. " No," shouted half a dozen voices. One man said : 
" They might get through to Torrens ; but God help the 
men on the trains after passing that point." 

The determined tone of the strikers in presence of the 



THE TROUBLE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 10 T 

military forces, was well calculated to produce feelings 
of uneasiness in the minds of the railroad officials, and 
the civil and military authorities manifested much hesita- 
tion as to the course which should be pursued. 

About one hundred and fifty men of the Eighteenth 
Regiment, under Colonel Guthrie, were sent to the East 
Liberty Stock Yards. Soldiers were also quartered at 
Torrens Station. At 2:30 o'clock that afternoon a mul- 
titude of strikers from the outer depot had collected at 
that point. They mingled freely with the soldiers, and 
gave them to understand that they would make short 
work with them if they attempted to interfere with their 
purposes respecting the running of trains. They energet- 
ically denounced General Pearson, and the military, and 
declared that if Pearson attempted to execute his threat 
to carry a train through, he would be shot. The disposi- 
tion of the strikers at the Stock Yards was dangerous to 
the peace and safety of the community. They boldly 
declared their purpose to resist the military, in order to 
accomplish their object by keeping the road blockaded. 

At three o'clock in the afternoon, a freight train arrived 
at Torrens, from the East, bearing some five hundred 
rough men, who immediately joined the multitude of 
strikers which had assembled at that place. A large num- 
ber of tramps and vagrants had also collected at that pointy 
and by six o'clock in the evening the strikers and their 
friends numbered not less than three thousand men, 
divided off into squads, acting with no little show of 
military discipline, under the direction of leaders, who 
evidently possessed good organizing capacity. 

The scenes presented along the road from Pittsburgh 
to Torrens Station the night of the 20th, was sufficiently 



108 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

suggestive. There were some twenty miles of freight 
ears occuying the sidings, and at all the wayside stations 
were guards of soldiers, and great crowds of strikers and 
their friends. Camp fires gleamed in vacant lots, and the 
glare of torches, and twinkling lamps revealed the forms 
of men, moving about in the dusky darkness, some with 
murderous guns and glittering bayonets, and others — 
hard faced, and tawny men, without other weapons than 
their own strong arms. There was a murmer of voices, 
low and ominous, where groups of men had gathered to 
discuss the situation. Then occasionally the sentinels 
challenge rang out sharp and clear, above the multitudi- 
nous noises that tortured the night breeze. It was a 
strange spectacle in a land of liberty and in a time of 
peace ! 

By nine o'clock in the evening a crowd of at least 
ten thousand persons, the greater number of whom were 
sympathizers with the strikers, had assembled at the head 
of Twenty- eight street. The officers of the Railroad Com- 
pany had expressed an intention to send out a freight 
train that night. The crowds threatened, and as it was 
evident that a collision could not be avoided, and as there 
was more than room for doubt that the military force 
would not be able to repel an assault, the design was 
given up. 

All the chief officers of the Pennsylvania Company, 
except Colonel Thomas A. Scott, were now in Pittsburgh. 
Messrs. Cassatt, Gardiner and Pitcairn, had a conference 
with the leaders of the strike during the evening. It 
was protracted for some hours. The strikers refused to 
treat on any other basis than that presented in the ulti- 
matum agreed upon by the meeting of strikers held on 



THE TROUBLE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 10£ 

the 19th. The representatives of the road positively 
refused to make any concessions. They demanded from 
the employes an unconditional surrender. The result of 
the consultation was what might have been expected 
under these circumstances. Nothing was accomplished. 
The strikers returned to those whom they represented, 
and reported that all hope of an adjustment must be aban- 
doned. It was then determined to fight it out on the 
line they had chosen. The railroad managers were 
equally determined. Thus the Avay was prepared for the 
startling events which soon occured. Colonel Thomas A^ 
Scott did not make an appearance at Pittsburgh during 
the continuance of the disorders. But he was in constant 
communication with his representatives in that place, and 
dictated the policy which was pursued by the Kailroad 
Company. There are those who believe that Colonel Scott 
is responsible for the scenes which followed. He could 
have arrested the progress of the strike ; he could have- 
ended the conflict ; he could have calmed the rising storm 
of heated passion ; he could have swept away the volumes 
of human misery that were rolling on ; he could have 
extinguished the little flame that threatened to become a 
conflagration ; aye, with a word he could have stayed the 
stroke of the Angel of Death, which waited to descend 
upon scores of wretched beings, driven by hunger to des- 
peration. But he would not. The words that would 
have produced peace then, were not spoken. The torch 
was prepared to fire the magazine; and Pittsburgh was 
doomed to undergo an ordeal of fire — to endure a reign 
of terror, and witness scenes of devastation and death. 

Every moment the situation was becoming more criti- 
cal. The strikers and their friends now outnumbered 
the soldiers three to one. 



110 TIIE GREAT STRIKES. 

As yet there had been no collisions. The strikers 
mingled with the soldiers, and it already appeared that 
the soldiets were not altogether without sympathy for 
the strikers. The Adjutant G-eneral having been noti- 
fied of the serious nature of the complications at Pitts- 
burgh, and having received a pressing call for further 
assistance, ordered out the Sixth Division of the National 
Guards of Pennsylvania, and at once departed from Ilar- 
risburgh for the scene of action. At Tyrone he was met 
by a telegram calling for Gatling guns. An order was 
at once telegraphed to Harrisburg for the shipment of 
two of these death dealing implements of war, together 
with thirty-four hundred rounds of ammunition. One 
of these guns was despatched from the Capital at eleven 
o'clock, and the other was forwarded the next morning. 

The First Division of the National Guards of Penn- 
sylvania, under command of Major General R. M. 
Brinton, was ordered from Philadelphia. This Division 
was composed of the First, Second, Third and Sixth 
Regiments, the Keystone Battery, Oity Troop, Black 
Hussars, Washington Greys, Weccacoe Legion, State 
Fencibles, and Grey Invincibles. These commands num- 
bered about two thousand men ; only about fourteen hun- 
dred however, could be assembled in time to take the train 
for Pittsburgh. General Brinton had established his head- 
quarters at the League House, where he received reports 
and directed operations. This officer was ordered to re- 
port to General Pearson on his arrival at Pittsburgh. 

Meanwhile the excitement in the city was increasing 
with every passing hour. Nothing like the intensity of 
feeling pervading the public mind had ever before been 
observed in that place — perhaps at no place and no 



THE TROUBLE IN PENNSYLVANIA. Ill 

time before in this country. The citizens of Pittsburgh, 
as a mass, were decided in expressions of sympathy with 
the strikers. The militia were everywhere execrated, 
and treated with derision by the people. Great masses 
of people thronged the streets ; men and women, old 
and young, persons belonging to all classes, and occupy- 
ing every station in life came out, and rushed back and 
forth with a nervous, objectless haste. The whole popu- 
lation seemed to be afflicted with a sort of inebriation of 
excitement. 

It was evident that the spirit of the Internationalists 
was reveling with fiendish delight amid the scenes of 
tumult everywhere observable on the streets. Women 
taunted soldiers and encouraged the Canaille to deeds 
of violence. It was a repetition of the scenes witnessed 
in Paris in those terrible days when the Commune rose 
in 1871, only on a less scale. It was a new experience 
to meet with women in mobs. But they were abroad 
now, and exerted an influence for evil that can scarcely 
be- estimated. All night the uproar was continued. 
Pittsburgh was fast becoming drunk with passion — 
dark, unrelenting develish passion, that would hesitate 
to commit no crime, shrink not from any deed of hor- 
ror. It was a night such as few had ever before lived 
through on this continent, not on account of what 
actually come to pass, but because of that which it fore- 
boded as a culmination for such scenes. 



CHAPTER X. 



A Night of Terror at Pittsburgh. 



The Culmination — A Sea of Fire — Death-Dealing Volleys — The Spirit 
of Desolation Lighting the Torch of Destruction — A Horrible Spec- 
tacle — A Reign of Terror — The Commune Gains a Brief but Fear- 
ful Ascendancy — The City Sacked by a Howling Mob — An end of 
all Lawful Authority — The Ghouls of Pillage Abroad in the Glare 
of the Devouring Fires — Millions of Property Resolved into Smoke 
and Ashes. 

The condition of affairs at Pittsburgh had become 
alarming in the extreme. The concentration of military 
forces instead of having a tendency to cool down the 
ardor of the strikers, and overawe the vicious elements of 
society, seemed to have a contrary effect. The malcon- 
tents had increased in numbers with astonishing rapidity. 
The bands of strikers which numbered no more than a 
few hundreds at most, the morning of the preceding day, 
had been re-enforced by a mob of idlers and tramps num- 
bering many thousands. The law abiding citizens were 
in a state of alarm and trepidation. To employ the lan- 
guage of Statius: "They stood in silent astonishment 
and waited for the fall of the yet doubtful thunder- 
bolt."* Eut the surging masses of the strikers and the 
mob were neither silent nor astonished. They were 
intoxicated by an excitement which prevented reflection. 
They neither knew when nor cared how the impending 

*Modified in translation. In the original, Mirantur tariti et dubi* 
pro fulmine pendent. 



A NIGHT OF TEEROK AT PITTSBTJEGH. 113 

bolt would fall. They were ready to rejoice at the 
havoc it would make. Vast multitudes of men of the 
lowest character, actuated by the most brutal passions, 
were assembled for the sole purpose of inaugurating a 
reign of terror among the people, and to light the torch 
of destruction in the city. 

Clamoring for a redress of grievances which they were 
unable to formulate, or distinctly specify, the mighty 
throngs of uneasy spirits who had been called into 
action in consequence of the railroad strikes, were pre- 
paring to commit the most heinous crimes against the 
peace and order of society. These men had no grievances 
to be redressed. They were the vagrants of our modern 
social organization. They prated of the downfall of liber- 
ty, when in truth they did not have a comprehension of 
the meaning of the word. Liberty is a proud spirit ; it 
regards government as the true instrument of human 
happiness, and resists it when it becomes manifestly 
prejudicial to happiness. But liberty only flashes out 
against the government which murders innocent men, 
and dishonors women. Liberty is force of character, 
roused by the sense of wrong. But it is consistent with 
a sense of duty and a willingness to bear just restraint, 
and uncombined with these it achieves nothing lasting. 
Then it becomes the ally of turbulence, the enemy of 
discipline. The elements which had combined against 
law and order in Pittsburgh were not in rebellion against 
a government, but against the whole social organization. 
They had known no oppression; on the contrary they 
enjoyed a liberty which ^amounted to license — a license 
that enabled them to secure a living without labor. 
It must be borne in mind that the characters here 

8 



114: THE GREAT STRIKES. 

alluded to, were not the strikers but the vicious idlers, 
who had taken advantage of the strikes to commit law- 
less deeds. The lawlessness among the strikers was 
manifested in another way. They seized the property 
of their employers, they violated the fundamental law of 
the right to private property ; they said in effect, " we 
are not receiving sufficient pay to sustain life, we will 
therefore quit our employment, and will not permit our 
employers to secure the services of other men to take 
our places. 7 ' This was violation of law, and should be 
unqualifiedly condemned. But it was not a warfare of 
destruction. The railroad strikers, as a mass, never had 
any purpose of destroying anything. They could have 
destroyed untold millions of dollars worth of property, 
all along the lines of the railroads which they had seized, 
and possession of which they retained for many days. 
Why could they not have burned every car on the line of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ? Why could not the 
strikers of East St. Louis, during the five days they held 
possession, and even guarded property worth millions of 
dollars, have destroyed it? There was nothing to pre- 
vent them only their own determination not to destroy. 
On the contrary, the whole history of the movement 
shows conclusively that the railroad men on a strike had 
no disposition to destroy. They were not incendiaries, 
not theives, not murderers. They were guardians of 
the property of their employers. If they had been 
actuated by a purpose to lay waste and burn, there was 
no adequate force to prevent their executing that purpose 
As a mass, the railroad employes are far more honest 
than the majority of railroad managers. They indeed 
violated law, and in a manner that subjected them to 



A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH. 115 

punishment. But they were less guilty than the specu- 
lators and autocrats, who have plundered the general 
public to the extent of millions of dollars. There were 
bad men among the strikers — men who would not hesi- 
tate at almost any crime. There are bad men in all 
-classes of society. Dangerously bad men are found 
among those who are leaders in the commercial and 
financial world. But because some railroad laborers are 
bad men, shall we therefore stigmatize all railroad 
laborers as bad ? That would be injustice. There were 
some railroad men, no doubt, among the mob who 
resisted the military and applied the torch to millions of 
dollars worth of property. Indeed, we have positive 
evidence that a few railroad men were active in promot- 
ing the riot. But they were no more representative of 
the whole body of railroad men than was William M. 
Tweed of the whole body of office-holders in the 
country. 

This statement appears necessary because of the efforts 
which have been made to fix upon the railroad men the 
•direct responsibility for the deeds of violence committed 
by the Pittsburgh mob of roughs. There were deeds of 
cruelty perpetrated by soldiers of the Federal and Con- 
federate armies during the late war. But it would 
be manifestly unjust to charge that all soldiers of the 
Federal and Confederate armies were inhuman and cruel, 
and still more repugnant to our sense of fairness, to hold 
the whole people of the North and the South respon- 
sible for the deeds of some of the soldiers who were 
engaged in the war between the two sections. The 
violence of the mob, the destruction of property, and 
the general subversion of the social order in Pittsburgh, 



116 • THE GEEAT STRIKES. 

were not necessarily even consequences of the strike, but 
were incidents in a general disturbance. Those railroad: 
men who promoted the violence, doubtless acted upon 
their own responsibility, and that ought to exonerate 
those who not only did not actively participate in the 
extraordinary scenes of that night of terror in Pittsburgh,, 
but who, on the contrary, expressed their disapproval.. 
It is but justice to say this in relation to the crime com- 
mitted at Pittsburgh, there is no evidence that the rail- 
road strikers, as a mass, were the instigators, or even the 
abettors of the deeds of that dreadful occasion. 

The storm which had been gathering for two days was- 
ready to burst upon the city in all its fury by the morning 
of the 21st of July. At an early hour of that day, it 
was apparent that a collision could not be avoided, and 
might happen at any time. During the morning the 
infantry forces of Alleghany county, which had been 
called out for duty before, was re-enforced by two bat- 
teries and two troops of cavalry which had been called! 
out. To these forces were added the First Division of 
the National Guards of Pennsylvania, which had been 
called out at Philadelphia the preceding night. This 
force under command of Major General Brinton, con- 
sisting of infantry, artillery and cavalry, began to arrive 
on the scene in the morning, and before evening the 
whole number had come up and had been assigned to 
posts of duty. These preparations on the part of the 
Government of the State did not seem to deter the 
strikers and the mob, on the contrary, these expressed 
the greatest contempt for the military array, and freely 
mingled with the soldiers, and boasted of their ability to 
speedily dispose of the whole body of militia which had 
been concentrated to put them down. 



A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH. 117 

Early in the morning a line of pickets was drawn 
from Twenty-eighth street to the Union Depot, and 
civilians of all classes were prohibited from approaching 
the tracks of the railroad. Meanwhile the civil authori- 
ties were taking measures to proceed legally against the 
ringleaders of the riotous crowds. Judge Ewing of the 
Court of Common Pleas issued warrants for the arrest 
of a number of the most prominent of the men among 
the disturbers. The Sheriff undertook to organize a 
jposse comitatus of one hundred men to serve the war- 
rants. In this he was unsuccessful. About fifteen per- 
sons, mostly the regular deputies in the Sheriff's 
office, responded to the call. Two hundred and fifty 
militia-men were ordered to support the civil officers in 
the discharge of their duty. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon the Sheriff head- 
ing his posse, and followed by the military command, 
started out to execute the writs which he held. They 
were never served on the persons, for whom they were 
issued, by Sheriff Fife. The web of fate was already 
being wound around him. He returned no more from 
that mission on which he had gone in the performance 
of his official duty. 

There are a great many statements in regard to the 
commencement of the rioting. It is not easy to arrive 
at the truth in this particular case. Where all was con- 
fusion, it was impossible to preserve a correct record of 
events in the order of occurrence. The account here 
given is believed to be in strict accordance with the facts, 
so far as they can be ascertained at this time. The con- 
flict had been expected to take place all the morning. 
At half-past three o'clock in the afternoon Sheriff Fife, 



118 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

accompanied by & posse of fifteen men, and supported by 
General Brinton in command of a considerable body of 
the Philadelphia militia, started for the general rendez- 
vous of the strikers and the mob at the Twenty-eighth 
street crossing. The plan of procedure agreed upon 
between the civil and military authorities, was for 
Sheriff Fife to proceed to the rendezvous, attempt the 
arrest of the persons named in his warrants, and if, as 
was anticipated, resistance was offered, to call upon the 
militia for assistance. The brigade of General Brinton 
marched out along the tracks, the Sheriff with his men 
preceding them. The Sheriff arriving at the depot, pro- 
ceeded to order the crowd to disperse. The mob met 
this command with a storm of yells, shouts, threats and 
jeers. He then announced his purpose to arrest the per- 
sons whom he named. Meanwhile the militaiy under 
General Brinton proceeded to clear the tracks. At that 
point a large number of strikers and an immense crowd 
of spectators had assembled. Much confusion ensued.. 
The crowd of strikers and the malcontents taunted the 
militia, and denounced them as " a pack of sneaks and 
cowards." However, they kept at a respectful distance 
from the points of the bayonets which the soldiers pre- 
sented. By this time it was apparent that the immense 
throng of rioters could not be dispersed by reading the 
riot act, or at the behest of the Sheriff. General Brin- 
ton, Mr. Fitcairn and Sheriff Fife at this stage held a 
short consultation. The riot act had been read and dis- 
regarded, and it was now determined to proceed to more 
decisive measures. The Sheriff had warrants for the 
arrest of fifteen persons among the strikers. General. 
Brinton and Mr. Pitcairn, assistant Superintendent of the- 



A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH. 119 

Pennsylvania Railroad, advised the Sheriff to proceed to 
make the arrest. At this time the excitement was fear- 
ful. The strikers were furious. The vast mob of the 
evil-disposed elements of society were dangerously deter- 
mined, nor were the immense assemblage of substantial 
citizen-spectators wholly indifferent as to the result. 
Their sympathies were with the strikers. The Sheriff 
went forward to execute his mission. One man, whose 
name was particularly singled out, was arrested. At 
that moment another man who was wanted rushed for- 
ward, waved his hat aloft, and shouted " At them boys ! 
at them ! give them hell ! " As to what followed imme- 
diately upon this movement accounts differ. But it 
appears before any actual resistance by act was made, 
General Brinton ordered his men to fire. This has been 
denied ; but the weight of evidence favors the correct- 
ness of the statement first made. Another writer who 
claims to have been present asserts that the mob made 
a determined assault upon the soldiers, by hurling a 
shower of missiles at them under the leadership of 
George Martin, the man for whose arrest the Sheriff had 
a warrant. At any rate a terrible fire was opened by 
the militia on the vast crowd of strikers, the mob acting 
in concert with them, and the citizens who had collected 
on the hill overlooking the track. The fire of the 
soldiers was very destructive, sixteen persons were in- 
stantly killed. The intelligence of this collision spread 
with amazing rapidity throughout the city. The whole 
population was instantly emptied into the streets. 

It appears that there was no sufficient cause for the 
fusilades of the soldiers in this instance. If we take this 
account given of it by one who evidently wrote with a 



120 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

strong bias in favor of the military, still there does not 
appear to have been sufficient provocation to justify the 
destructive fire into a crowd of people in which were 
many women and children. The writer alluded to, says : 
" When the line reached the depot they immediately 
cleared the crossing amid the jeers and hootings of the 
strikers, who widely scattered through the great crowd, 
there being not less than five thousand people present. 
Consultation was then held by the officers in command 
with Superintendent Pitcairn and the Sheriff, after 
which the latter proceeded to read the riot act. Having 
warrants for the arrest of fifteen of the ringleaders, he pro- 
ceeded to make an arrest. The particular man for whom 
the warrant was issued approached, waved his hat, and 
calling to the crowd and strikers said, ' Give them hell.' 
Immediately a shower of boulders was hurled into the 
troops, and one revolver-shot fired into the ranks. Gen- 
eral Brinton then ordered his men to fire, and the word 
went along the line from platoon to platoon until the left 
of the line was reached, and then the firing was repeated 
several times. The crowd fled in dismay, and hid where- 
ever it was possible. Immediately after the firing, 
crowds of excited people sprang up, as if by magic, from 
all directions, and the imprecations against the Philadel- 
phia troops, who were blamed by the strikers and the 
mob as being responsible for the trouble, were very 
threatening. It was a noteworthy fact that hundreds of 
people in no way connected with the railroad, expressed 
their determination to "join with the strikers in driving 
them from the city. These remarks were interspersed 
with loud and bitter threats that the Company's shops, 
depots and buildings should at-night be laid in ashes." 



A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH. 121 

Who " the excited people " were who " sprang up as if 
by magic, from all directions," this writer does not inform 
us. It could not have been the terror stricken crowd 
which had " tied in dismay and hid wherever it was pos- 
sible," but a moment before. Nor is it plain why " hun- 
dreds of people in no way connected with the railroad, 
expressed their determination to join with the strikers " 
in driving the Philadelphia troops from the city. 

The firing was repeated. Platoon after platoon 
poured showers of bullets into the terror-stricken com- 
pany assembled on the bank overlooking the railroad 
tracks. By this time the excitement had become dread- 
ful, and extended all over the city. There was a general 
condemnation of the action of the militia among the 
citizens. The general impression was that they had 
acted precipitately, and had needlessly sacrificed the lives 
of a number of innocent persons. The billows of passion 
were rolling with fearful sweep over the city. The 
night was closing in. The scenes presented on th e 
streets were intensely exciting. The experience of the 
fusilades had produced only a still more dangerous con- 
dition of feeling. The whole population seemed to have 
joined the rioters. Within less than half an hour after 
the firing, the crowd about the Twenty-eighth street 
crossing had swelled to fearful proportions. The posi- 
tion of the Philadelphia troops was critical. The expres- 
sion's of bitterness against them was- not confined to the 
strikers alone. The soldiers were too few to protect the 
city. At eight o'clock the multitude at Twenty-eighth 
street numbered not less than twenty thousand. The 
threats were ominous. No pen can describe the scenes 
witnessed that evening on the streets of Pittsburgh- 



122 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The demoniac jells, the loud profanity, the terrible 
threats, were united to swell the awful volume of angry 
noises. It seemed as if the infernal regions had been 
emptied of its myriads of fiends, who were released for 
the purpose of enacting on earth the orgies of hell. 
There was little or no drunkenness from the use of liquors,, 
but there was an inebriation of terrible passion in its 
manifestations. Men, women, old and young, high and 
low, both sexes, all conditions, all orders, all classes in 
life, came forth and joined the angry, surging tide of 
humanity that incessantly ebbed and flowed through the 
streets of the fated city. Pittsburgh had entered upon 
its night of woe. The Commune had risen in its danger- 
ous might, and threatened a deluge of blood. In the 
very center from which a large part of the world's sup- 
ply of oil is drawn, the petroleuses were apparently ready 
to fill their cans and go forth as messengers of deduc- 
tion. 

Concerning the conflict at Twenty-eighth street which 
had taken place between live and six o'clock, and which 
was one of the factors in, if not the immediate cause of the 
terrible excitement which seized upon all classes of the 
people, it is but proper to present the statements of both 
sides in regard to the commencement. Lieutenant James 
P. Elliot, Acting Adjutant General on the staff of General 
Matthews, commanding the First Brigade of the First 
Division, who was a participant and eye witness of what 
occurred, gives the following account of the first encoun- 
ter between the soldiery and the mob : 

" The division under command of General Brinton r 
landed in Pittsburgh at 1:45 p. m. on Saturday, six hun- 
dred strong, the men each furnished with thirty rounds 



A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH. 12$ 

of ammunition, accompanied b} 7 two Gatling guns obtain- 
ed in Harrisburg, in charge of the Keystone Battery. 
When the troops issued from the cars in the Union 
Depot, they were met by a large number of people, who 
appeared to be in perfect good humor, and even greeted 
them with cheers. That the bloodshed that afterwards 
followed would take place was, therefore, the last thing 
that entered the minds of the soldiers. After luncheon 
of sandwiches and coffee had been served, the troops 
remained in the depot until about half-past three o'clock, 
when the First Brigade composed of the First Regiment^ 
Companies B and C of the Third, the Washington Greys 
and Weccacoe Legion, marched down the track as far as 
Twenty-eighth street, accompanied by Vice President 
Cassatt, Mr. Pitcairn, Superintendent of the Western 
Division of the Pennsylvania Eailroad, Sheriff Fife and 
forty -five deputies, armed with writs for the arrest of 
prominent strikers. At Twenty-eighth street the head 
of the column composed of the Weccacoe Legion and 
the Washington Greys, found themselves confronted by 
a mob about two thousand strong, while on the hill some 
four hundred feet high that faced the right of the column r 
there were ranged an immense multitude at least ten 
thousand strong. On the brow of the hill were stationed 
detatchments of the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Penn- 
sylvania Regiments (Pittsburgh troops), and immediately 
above the railroad two pieces of Hutchinson's Pittsburgh 
Battery. Sheriff Fife after in vain endeavoring to serve 
his writs, read the riot act, at which the mob jeered and 
laughed, whereupon the Sheriff and his deputies and Mr. 
Cassatt and Mr. Pitcairn retired in profound disgust. 
The troops were then deployed for the purpose of 



124 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

sweeping the mob from the tracks, the Greys and Wec- 
eacoe Legion facing the two thousand or more strikers 
that occupied the tracks. At the back of the command 
was a train of coal cars, behind which there were about 
two hundred of the strikers. In order to force the prin- 
cipal mob back, the soldiers of the Greys and the Legion 
crossed their muskets, their intention being to avoid 
doing the strikers injury. The crowd laughed and jeered 
and finally attempted to wrest the muskets from the sol- 
diers, who then came to a charge bayonet, and in the 
melee that necessarily followed, one of the strikers was 
wounded by a bayonet thrust. The cry arose from the 
mob: ' Stick to it; give it to them; don't fall back! 1 
und the men behind the coal cars began discharging pis- 
tols at the soldiers from under and between the cars, 
while the crowd in front began heaving rocks, with which 
a number of the soldiers were hit, and Sergeant Bernard 
of the Weccacoe Legion seriously wounded. The firing 
by the troops then began. There was no order given 
for it. It began with the discharge of a single musket 
and was immediately followed by an almost simultaneous 
•discharge from front and rear, right and left of the bri- 
gade. The firing lasted about ten minutes, men continu- 
ally dropping in the fast-retreating mob. It was at this 
time that the Pittsburgh troops threw down their arms 
and fraternized with the strikers, Hutchinson's Battery 
and a cavalry company alone excepted. Within five 
minutes after the firing ceased the mob was back again? 
but refrained for a while from further assaults upon the 
Philadelphians, and therefore there was no firing upon 
them. 'It was the most persistent mob,' said Lieut3n- 
iint Elliot, 'I ever saw.' The brigade remained on the 



A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH. 1 25> 

field of battle until six o'clock, when they were ordered 
by General Pearson back to the roundhouse, adjoining 
which is a building in which was stationed the second 
brigade." 

The occurrence of an event such as that described 
above, could not fail to arouse the people. The killing 
of several members of the Pittsburgh militia by the 
Philadelphia troops, had the effect of intensifying the 
feelings of animosity against them. The crowds gather- 
ing in that part of the city were every moment becoming 
more demonstrative. The threats against the troops 
were calculated to cause even veterans to feel uneasy as 
to the result. The mob now outnumbered the soldiers 
at least seven to one. The militia remained on the field 
of conflict for a time. Then General Pearson fearing 
they would be surrounded and massacred by a merciless 
mob, ordered a retreat to the roundhouse of the Pennsyl- 
vania Company, and there prepared to resist the terrible 
mob of infuriated workingmen and vagrants. 

The dangerous propensities of the mob continued to 
develop. Before nine o'clock had arrived, the law-abid- 
ing citizens of Pittsburgh were fully sensible of the 
impending peril. The strikers were resolute and deter- 
mined. But the chief danger was in the presence of an 
immense number of vagrants and tramps, idle miners,, 
and roughs of every character. Strange to say, there 
was a large element in the population of Pittsburgh, who 
had the reputation of being respectable people — trades- 
men, householders, well-to-do mechanics and such, who 
were witnesses of the progress of the turbulent mob, 
who not only did not protest against their proceedings, 
but openly mingled with them, and encouraged them to 
commit further deeds of violence. 



126 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

About 9:15 o'clock, a large band of the rioters, started 
on a mission of plunder. There were in the city a num- 
ber of gun stores, and a number of hardware dealers 
who kept guns and ammunition as a part of their stock in 
trade. The location of these places of business, were 
well known to the leaders of the predatory mob. They 
proceeded first to a large gun and ammunition store, 
forced open the doors, and took from the premises some 
four hundred guns of all classes, many of them being 
Winchester and Henry rifles, such as obtained ready sale 
in the region adjacent to the Upp3r Missouri river. A 
large amount of fixed ammunition was also taken. Some 
five hundred repeating pistols with cartridges, were also 
taken away by the rioters. The crowd then went suc- 
cessively to every gun and hardware store in the city. 
More than two thousand guns of improved pattern were 
taken, while the number of pistols, swords and knives, 
thus taken could not be estimated. More than a hundred 
thousand dollars worth of arms and ammunition, had 
thus come into the hands of the mob. 

Meanwhile the troops had sought shelter and protec- 
tion in the roundhouse, where they were advised of 
the preparations of the mob to take the offenbive, and 
awaited the expected assault with many misgivings as to 
their ability to resist the overwhelming force of the 
rioters. 

By eleven o'clock, the work of plundering the gun-stores 
had been completed, and. a mob numbering not less than 
four thousand men, and organized into something like 
military order, formed in line and marched in two 
columns, one proceeding up Pennsylvania avenue, and 
the other taking Liberty street to Twenty-eighth street. 
Here at least thirty thousand people had assembled. 



A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH. 127 

The scene presented at this time was truly awe-inspir- 
ing. The vast, surging masses of people, including men, 
women and children, the fearful tumult of a great 
multitude excited by angry passions, the shouts, taunts, 
jeers, execrations, and passionate appeals to an already 
enraged populace, the shrill screams of women, the cries of 
children, and the curses of men, altogether, were calcu- 
lated to produce a sensation of alarm and terror, even in 
the breasts of the bravest. 

On arriving at the scene of the late fusilades, at 
Twenty-eighth street, the armed mob at once proceeded 
to attack the troops quartered in the roundhouse. 
"Volley after volley was poured into the windows, but 
elicited no response from the soldiers within. The mob 
threatened to massacre the whole division of the troops 
which had taken refuge there. The numbers and deter- 
mination of the armed mob indicated that this expressed 
purpose was not merely an idle threat. 

It was an hour fraught with momentous events. A 
eity containing a population of more one hundred and 
twenty thousand souls was without law, in the complete 
possession of a vast mob, armed, vindictive, cruel, 
destructive. Immense amounts of valuable property, 
arrested in transit, filled long lines of freight cars 
on the railway tracks. Splendid stores and luxuriously 
appointed mansions, were all placed at the mercy of a 
mob which had set all law at defiance, a furious throng 
that acknowledged responsibility to no authority. Munici- 
pal government was at an end, police authority despised, 
even the Government of a great State was set at naught. 
Three thousand armed militia, infantry, artillery, and 
cavalry, the police force of some hundreds, the constab- 



128 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Tilary, all were powerless in presence of the armed and 
enraged multitude of many thousands. General Pearson 
and General Brinton, would most certainly have been 
murdered if they could have been found. Murders of 
straggling soldiers were being committed by the mob, 
whenever an opportunity occurred. Sheriff Fife went 
out to the outer depot to endeavor to stay the tide of 
lawlessness in that direction. But he was fated to return 
no more alive. His dead body was brought in at a late 
hour from the place where he had been shot. 

The situation of the besieged militia was dangerous in 
the extreme. The now thoroughly infuriated mob was 
making loud threats of an intention to massacre the 
whole body of men. A committee of citizens proceeded 
to the roundhouse where they were shut up, and 
begged them to depart from a city they could not protect, 
while their presence only served to further exasperate an 
angry populace. 

Threats of burning and destroying had been freely 
indulged in by the bad elements which composed the 
greater part of the howling mob that now frantically 
assailed the military. ' ' These threats were the earnest of 
a purpose. Midnight came. But there was no peace 
in the troubled city. Then one o'clock, and then the 
fire-bells rang. The alarm came from Twenty-eighth 
street. Everybody knew the dreadful significance of 
that. Pittsburgh soon presented a scene terribly grand. 



CHAPTEE XI. 



Given Over to Pillage. 



The Great Conflagration — Demoniac Satisfaction — The Reign of the 
Commune — Besieged Soldiers — Abandoned Artillery — The Miser- 
able Retreat — Pittsburgh Given Over to the Mob — Scenes of 
Pillage — Citizens at last Aroused — A Vigilance Committee — Re- 
storing Order. 

It was half past one o'clock Sunday morning, July 22d, 
when the fire-bells of the city of Pittsburgh rang out the 
awful announcement that the devouring flames had com- 
menced to rage in the vicinity of the railroad depot and 
yards. The signal was fully comprehended. The mob 
was proceeding to execute the threats which had been 
made. All through that anxious night the inhabitants had 
awaited tidings of the progress of events. It was a time 
when sleep was banished by alarms and cares. The 
significance of the number tolled by the bells was well 
understood. Soon the streets were thronged by a mighty 
tide of people, rushing in excited haste toward Twenty- 
eighth street. 

The mob had fired the arrested trains and some of the 
buildings that belonged to the Railroad Company. The 
fire engines were speedily in the vicinity of the scene 
of disaster ; but they were not permitted to make any effort 
to save the millions of dollars worth of property, by 
arresting the progress of the flames. The fiendish spirit 
of the Commune had taken possession of an incredibly 



VSO THE GREAT STRIKES. 

large proportion of the people of Pittsburgh. This was 
exhibited by the fearful jell of satisfaction which rose from 
every part of the city as the alarm bells pealed forth 
their dreadful warning. Never before in the history of 
the United States had scenes such as those now wit- 
nessed arrested the attention of the people. A species 
o fmadness seemed to have seized the citizens. 

Men seized torches, and rushed wildly about, applying 
them to the property of the Railroad Company. In this 
way train after train was given up to the devouring 
flames. The infuriated rioters, having been baffled thus 
far in their efforts against the militia besieged in the 
roundhouse, now expressed a determination to burn 
them out. The long lines of freight cars which occupied 
the sidings for miles, freighted with valuable products, 
and manufactured goods, it seemed were destined to be 
given over to destruction. All night the great army of 
rioters had been engaged in a fruitless effort to storm the 
roundhouse, in which the soldiers of the State were 
besieged. The two pieces of artillery of Hutchinson's 
Battery, which the rioters captured early in the evening, 
had been loaded with iron bolts and pins, and directed 
against the quarters of the militia. A breach had been 
made in the walls, the mob rushed forward, but were 
met by a murderous fire of musketry which caused the 
ill-organized mass to recoil in wild dismay. But now 
they had resolved upon a more terrible mode of attack. 
There were on the tracks whole trains of cars freighted 
with petroleum, and others loaded with coke and coal. 
These the rioters determined to use for the purpose of 
nriii"; the roundhouse. 

Having taken possession of a car freighted with coke, 



GIVEN OVER TO PILLAGE. 131 

on the track of the Alleghany Yalley Railroad, they run 
it onto the track of the Pennsylvania Railway Company. 
Taking some barrels of oil from a car on that road, they ' 
broke in the head and poured the contents over the coke 
in the car which they had captured on the other road. 
This they set on fire ; it was speedily a blazing furnace. 
A company of the rioters now pushed it along the track 
until it was against the roundhouse. That structure 
was quickly ignited, and the flames spread slowly through 
the building. The situation of the militia garrison, 
which had sustained a siege through the weary hours of 
the night, was rendered extremely critical. They had 
now to abandon their position of shelter, and prepare to 
cut their way through the mass of madmen clamoring 
for their blood. They had yet some pieces of artillery 
in the roundhouse, and the two Gatling guns which 
they had brought from Harrisburg. The heavy brass 
pieces were spiked, and the little army of perhaps eight 
hundred militia men hurriedly withdrawing their out- 
posts, and concentrating all their force, was ready to march 
out on their perilous attempt to save themselves from an- 
nihilation by a furious mob of many thousands. 

Circumstances favored them. For some unexplained 
reason that part of the mob which had been besieging 
the soldiers in the roundhouse, retired from that vicinity. 
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the garrison 
marched out and had proceeded some distance in their 
retreat before their departure was discovered. It was 
now about 6 : 30 o'clock in the morning. The dismal 
night was past. The Philadelphians had already begun 
to congratulate themselves at their fortunate escape. But 
their troubles were not ended. The mob soon dis- 



132 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

covered their retreat. Then commenced a most re- 
markable pursuit. The rioters swarmed after the re- 
treating militia in huge masses. They went to the 
front, they hung on the flanks, and followed in the rear 
of the fleeing militia-men, attacking them from every 
convenient covert, and openly at every street crossing.. 
It was on this retreat, or rather rout, that the Philadel- 
phians sufYerred most severely. The force which left 
the roundhouse consisted of two brigades with two Gat- 
ling guns. They marched out and along Penn avenue- 
As they marched they were fired upon from corners and 
alley-ways and windows and house-tops. At Fourteenth 
street an unusually vigorous attack was made from a 
house. The Gatling guns were charged and fired with 
destructive effect. The retreating column continued its 
flight. They sought shelter in the United States ar- 
senal, but Major Buffington, who commanded the small 
force of ten regular United States soldiers, declined ta 
permit them to enter, as he feared the whole mob 
would attack when he had no means of defense. He 
however permitted them to leave their wounded to be 
attended to, and the militia continued their retreat across 
the Alleghany river to the village of Sharpsburg, 
where they halted and received food from the villagers. 
The Philadelphians marched on to Claremont, about 
twelve miles from the scene of disaster, arriving there 
about five o'clock in the afternoon, wearied and foot-sore. 
Thus ended their memorable campaign against the 
rioters of Pittsburgh. 

Take any account given of the conduct of these 
citizen-soldiers, examine it closely, and it becomes appa- 
rent that they were badly treated by the Pittsburghers. 



GIVEN OVER TO PILLAGE. 133 

Even granting that they did fire before they were 
actually assaulted, it is evident they did not fire until 
after they were in some danger of being overpowered by 
the mere force of numbers. Called out by the State 
.authority, in the performance of duty, they went to 
Pittsburgh to protect public and private property. Jus- 
tice requires the statement that they were received by 
those they came to serve and protect, in a manner which 
showed that they were regarded more in the light of a 
horde of invading vandals than as friends and protectors. 
Meanwhile the work of destruction, which had been 
going on since one o'clock in the morning, was still pro- 
ceeding. The soldiers had been vanquished. They had 
been driven through Lawrenceville, out to Sharps!) urg, 
■six miles up the Alleghany and outside the city limits, as 
"the rioters had sworn to drive them out, so they accom- 
plished their oaths. Eight soldiers were killed and sev- 
eral others wounded during their retreat, the infuriated 
mob would allow no one to touch the falling bodies 
save some Catholic priests from a parish church in the 
neighborhood. Even the vengeance of a merciless mob 
might well be satiated by the events of that doleful Sun- 
day morning in Pittsburgh. But there is no means of pla- 
cating madmen. The rioters were such now. There 
was no protection for the lives or the property of the 
•citizens, save such as the lawbreakers might accord. 
And strange to say, while engaged in driving out the 
ministers of the law, and laying waste the property of a 
great corporation, these men were foremost in efforts to 
preserve the property of individuals. A singular fact, 
but a truth nevertheless, that amid all the madness of 
:that exciting time there was no disposition manifested to 



134: THE GREAT STRIKES. 

do violence to the person or the property of individuals 
— except in appropriating weapons of offense and de- 
fense held by private citizens. They said they were 
determined to destroy the railroad property, but would 
do no injury to that belonging to private citizens. They 
kept their word, too, and when a lumber pile belonging 
to a private citizen caught fire, the rioters themselves 
turned in and helped to extinguish the flames and 
remove the lumber to a safe place. But there was no 
compunction exhibited so far as railroad property was 
concerned. The scene was the most terrible ever wit- 
nessed, except in the carnage of war. 

The fire raged with unabated fury, and the flames 
kept creeping steadily toward the depot. At six o'clock 
the large machine shops by the tracks between Twenty- 
sixth and Twenty-seventh streets caught fire, and burn- 
ing cars were switched on to the Alleghany Yalley Rail- 
road and sent down that track in Liberty street, setting 
fire to many of the houses. Superintendent Pitcairn's 
and other offices of the Company, went next. All along 
the tracks were long lines of fire, consuming uncounted 
values in property. And still the conflagration extended ;. 
cars, houses, shops, all were destined to destruction. 

The Union Line office at Twenty-second street, was 
wrapped in flames early in the morning. The walls fell 
with a tremendous crash about eight o'clock. Mean- 
while the flames from the two roundhouses, machine 
shops and cars, became magnificent and appalling. One 
hundred and twenty-five locomotives were burned, 
valued at three millions of dollars, and the loss on the 
buildings increases that loss to four millions. 

At this time the scene was appalling in magnificence^ 



GIVEN OVER TO PILLAGE. 135 

A vast field of fire, crackled and roared with terrible 
distinctness. To travesty the language of Parton, men 
who witnessed it felt as if they stood upon the brink of 
hell, with the lid off. 

There were fifty miles of hot rails, ten tracks side by 
side, with as many miles of ties turned into glowing coals y 
and tons on tons of iron car skeletons and wheels almost 
at a white heat. Hundreds of coal and coke cars at full 
blast ; two hotels, an elevator, and many dwellings were 
burning furiously, and hundreds of smaller buildings 
along the line were all in a blaze, with the intermittent 
flashes of lurid light from the debris of ' the roundhouse 
and machine shops. 

The tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad descend on 
a heavy grade for a distance of about three hundred 
yards into the Union Depot at Pittsburgh. The fire 
which had been raging east of the crest of this grade for 
many hours, moved slowly westward, and had approached 
within a few hundred yards of the Union Depot at noon 
on Sunday. At one o'clock a number of cars were in 
flames at the summit of the grade spoken of. The 
rioters now determined to most completely execute the 
purposes they had sworn to consummate. It had been 
hoped by citizens that the Union Depot and Keystone 
Hotel, and other valuable buildings around them would 
escape the general destruction. The Union Depot was a 
large four-story building. It had a frontage on Liberty 
street of about seventy feet, and extended back about 
two hundred feet. The lower floor was used as waiting 
rooms, ticket offices, and the Company's offices. The 
upper floor was occupied by the Keystone Hotel Company, 
and was one of the finest houses in the citv. The whole 



136 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

building was of modern style of architecture, and was con- 
sidered one of the best arranged depots in the country, 
and was finished about seven years since. In the rear of 
the depot, and extending back five hundred feet, were 
lines of neat pine sheds, covering different tracks to pro- 
tect passengers from the weather. 

This splendid structure was doomed to become food 
for the flames along with the other valuable properties 
involved in the vortex of devastating fires. About half 
past one o'clock the rioters began to send flaming cars, 
thundering down the grade toward the depot. Most of 
them were turned into sidings so that they did not enter 
the depot, but soon the passenger cars standing near the 
despatcher's office at the outer end of the depot caught fire, 
and by the rioters brakes^were loosed and the cars by their 
own momentum, thundered into the depot, communicat- 
ing the flames to the pine sheds alluded to above. The 
whole place was quickly enveloped in a roaring, seething 
mass of fire. 

The freight depot of the Pittsburgh and St. Louis 
Railroad was a large shed, built fronting on Grant street, 
and extending from Washington street to Seventh 
avenue. The Company's general offices were in a four 
story brick building fronting on Seventh avenue. 
These were totally destroyed, as was also the depot of 
the Adams Express Company, located on Grant street. 
The books and valuable papers had been removed from 
the Union Depot offices, as well as from the outer build- 
ings, before the fire reached them. The Fire Depart- 
ment of the city continued on duty from the time of 
the first alarm, but were not allowed to throw any water 
on or make any effort to save the property of the Rail- 



GIVEN OVER TO PILLAGE. 137 

road Company. The y consequently directed their efforts 
to saving the private property on the north side of 
Liberty street. In this they were mainly successful, 
though six dwellings and a sash factory located near 
the roundhouses were destroyed early in the day. 

When the Union Depot was fired, followed by the 
Pan Handle offices, a panic seized the citizens, who had 
up to this time calmly folded their arms and looked on. 
It was feared that the conflagration would sweep the 
entire portion of the city south of the Pan Handle Rail" 
road tracks, as many of the buildings were small frames 
as dry as tinder. At this juncture the Fire Department 
of Alleghany, which had been held in readiness in case 
of an outbreak on that side of the river, was summoned 
to assist in staying the progress of the flames. 

At this time the excitement in every part of the city 
knew no bounds. In Liberty street, about twelve build- 
ings were on fire, and in the neighborhood of Twenty- 
eighth street the flames were spreading toward the 
Alleghany rapidly. Hundreds of families in the section 
of the city between the railroad tracks and the Alle- 
ghany, three squares, and the Eleventh street Union 
Depot and Thirty-second street, spent the afternoon in 
moving their most valuable effects out of the city. 

During the burning of the depot more than a dozen 
terrific explosions occurred, but whether from powder 
secreted there by the mob, or from the contents of the 
cars, or the ammunition of soldiers, is not known. 

About four o'clock the Rush House, opposite the 
depot, on Liberty street, caught fire. The Fire Depart- 
ment worked all the afternoon to keep the fire from 
communicating to th« Rush House block, as it was direct- 



138 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

ly contiguous to the whole lower part of the city, while 
the depot was more isolated in position. Three thousand 
five hundred cars, all told, were destroyed, the value of 
which, with their contents, is yet unknown. 

About noon, Sunday, a mass meeting of citizens was 
called, and a committee of five persons consisting of 
Bishop Tuigg, James D. Bennett, the Rev. Dr. Scoville, 
James P. Barr, and Dr. Donnelly, w T ere appointed in ac- 
cordance with the following resolutions : 

^Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer 
with the State, County and City authorities, and also the 
employes, w r orkingmen, and the Pennsylvania Railroad 
officials, to secure the protection of property from wanton 
destruction, and an arrangement of the difficulties be- 
tween the Railroad Company and the striking employes. 

JResolved, That in making this effort we pledge our 
faith to the workingmen that we have no purpose to 
facilitate the introduction of an armed force, but look 
solely to the protection of the rights and interests of all 
by amicable means. 

This committee entered upon the duty imposed upon 
them, but without any marked success.. Bishop Tuigg- 
attempted to address the mob of rioters, but they paid 
little regard to his words, and demanded that he produce 
" Tom. Scott," which of course the Bishop could not 
comply with. Some of the other members of the com- 
mittee fared even worse, having received from the 
rioters they attempted to conciliate peremptory orders to 
depart from them. 

It was now the middle of the afternoon. The fire was 
still raging. A large elevator had taken fire about half- 
past four o'clock in the afternoon, and was a terribly grand 



GIVEN OVER TO PILLAGE. 139» 

spectacle, as a tower of flame, reaching toward the sky. 
And still the great multitude of spectators swayed to and 
fro, powerless to resist the forces which kindled the 
flames, and helpless to stay the progress of the destroy- 
ing element. At this time, from the crest of the hill 
behind the depot, a continuous line of fire, flame, moul- 
dering ruins and smoke extended along the tracks a dis- 
tance of three miles. The mob was still triumphant, 
and would not allow a drop of water to be thrown upon 
the Company's property. The scenes were terrific. Many 
of the stores burned near the depot contained whiskey, 
from which barrels were taken, and from which gallons- 
were distributed. The Atlantic and Pacific telegraph 
wires along the track were all cut. The Adams Express 
Company moved every thing from their depot store-house 
to offices on Fifth street. They lost heavily during the 
morning. There was no wind in the early part of the 
day, but during the afternoon a southwest breeze started 
up, which freshened to a steady wind, and a pall of 
smoke overhung the lower part of the city east of Smith- 
field street, and reaching to the Monongahela. At five 
o'clock buildings on the side of the hill east, and on the 
opposite side of the tracks from the elevator caught fire, 
and by 5:50 o'clock the fire had extended a block and a. 
half up Washington street, from which street the fire 
spread both ways on Webester street. This is a district on 
the hill covered with low tenement houses, which were 
closely packed with workingmen and their families. 

The most striking feature, perhaps, of the day's 
developments, was the complete apathy with which the 
tens of thousands that thronged the city, looked upon 
the riots, the bloodshed, and the burning of millions of 



140 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

property. They seemed to take the same kind of interest 
in these tremendous events as they would take in a sen- 
sational drama. As evening approached they wended 
their way peacefully home, remarking carelessly that it 
was all very terrible, and that the Pennsylvania Railroad 
had almost bankrupted the city and had only got what it 
deserved. 

The scenes of pillage witnessed during that memora- 
ble Sunday, July 22nd, 1877, in the city of Pittsburgh, 
were such as were never before witnessed in this 
country; not even during the war between the sec- 
tions. An eye witness thus describes the reign of the 
Commune : 

" While hundreds were engaged in firing the cars and 
making certain of the destruction of the valuable build- 
ings at the outer depot, thousands of men, women and 
children engaged in pillaging the cars. Men armed 
with heavy sledges would break open the cars, and then 
the contents would be thrown out and carried off by 
those bent on profiting by the reign of terror existing. 
The street was almost completely blockaded by persons 
laboring to carry off the plunder they had gathered 
together. In hundreds of instances wagons were 
pressed into service to enable thieves to get away with 
their goods. Mayor McCarthy, early in the day, 
endeavored to stop the pillage, but the handful of men 
at his command were unable to control the crowd, who 
were desperate in their anxiety to secure the goods. 
The pillage was checked, but the mob fired the cars, and 
then proceeded with the work of destruction. It is im- 
possible to form any idea of the amount of goods stolen, 
but hundreds of thousands will not cover the loss. Some 



GIVEN OVER TO PILLAGE. 141 

of the scenes, notwithstanding the terror which seemed 
to paralyze peaceable and orderly citizens, were ludicrous 
in the highest degree, and no one seemed to enjoy them 
with greater zest than those outraged in the wholesale 
plunder. Here a brawny woman could be seen hurrying 
away with pairs of white kid slippers under her arms j 
another, carrying an infant, would be rolling a barrel of 
flour along the sidewalk, using her feet as the propelling 
power ; here a man pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with 
white lead. Boys hurried through the crowd with large- 
sized family Bibles as their share of the plunder, while 
scores of females utilized aprons and dresses to carry 
flour, eggs, dry goods, etc. Bundles of umbrellas, fancy 
parasols, hams, bacon, leaf lard, calico, blankets, laces,, 
and flour Were mixed together in the arms of robust 
men, or carried on hastily constructed hand barrows." 

The militia having fled the city, and there being no 
United States regulars at hand, the citizens of Pittsburgh 
were at the mercy of a mob, without the least possibility 
of resisting its demands. Such was the situation late 
Sunday evening, when an adjourned meeting of the citi- 
zens was held and a vigilance committee was raised for 
the purpose of preventing a further waste of property. 
The committee was rapidly recruited and its members 
were first supplied with base-ball bats, but these were 
afterwards exchanged for guns. They were designated 
by white ribbons on their arms. As soon as the force 
was organized they marched to Seventh avenue, where 
hundreds of spectators who had been waiting for some 
one to lead, joined with them in preventing further 
incendiarism. The reign of the mob was over, although 
threats were made that the buildings belonging to the 



142 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Railroad, and Cleve- 
land and Pittsburgh road, on Penn street, and the Du- 
■quesne Freight Depot on Liberty street would be fired. 
A large number of the vigilance committee guarded 
these depots through the night and they were not des- 
troyed . 

The reign of the mob came to an end that night. 
Afterward, General Hancock and Governor Hartranft 
came to Pittsburgh, with all "the pomp and circumstance 
of glorious war." But they found no hostile foe to con- 
quer. General Hancock's soldiers did indeed arrest 
some sixty or seventy of the communistic incendiaries of 
Pttsburgh, and they were handed over to Governor Hart- 
ranft, who in turn directed the Attorney General of 
Pennsylvania to proceed against them in the courts. 
Put the riots were virtually at an end. The citizens who 
"were in sympathy with the strikers, had been alienated 
from them by the deeds of the communistic mob, and 
the revulsion was so marked, and so dangerous in its 
symptoms, that the law breakers naturally felt alarmed. 
The last real fight during the further continuance of the 
strike was between a party of seventy-five members of 
the citizens vigilance committee, armed with base ball 
bats, and a gang of rowdies on Liberty street, late Sun- 
day evening. At first repulsed, the citizens returned to 
the charge and were victorious. The next day the rio- 
ters formally surrendered their arms to a committee of 
citizens, and the brief, but terrible war in Pittsburgh 
was at an end. 



CHAPTER XII. 



General Movements in Pennsylvania. 



Difficulty at Erie — Rioters near Bethlehem — Sunbury Strikers — A Rab- 
ble at Altoona — Meadville Militia — Mauch Chunk Characters — 
Lebanon Valley Villianies — Marietta Marauders — Wilkesbarre Dis- 
turbances — Shenandoah Colliers — Hazards at Harrisburg — Scran- 
ton Miners — Hazleton Isolated — The Johnstown Murders. 



While the attention of the whole country was concen- 
trated on the momentous events happening in Baltimore, 
Pittsburgh, Chicago, Reading, Fort Wayne, and St. 
Louis, there were events of scarcely less significance 
taking place in all the considerable towns and cities 
throughout the entire State of Pennsylvania. Laborers 
in mills and factories, founderies, and mines, all over the 
State, were in a state of feverish excitement. The great 
masses of men engaged in the anthracite coal regions of 
the Eastern Slope, the miners of the bituminous coal 
fields of the West were all profoundly agitated by the 
-events taking place throughout the Union. The em- 
ployes of railroads in various parts of the State were in 
the closest sympathy with the objects aimed at by the 
strikers on the Grand Trunk lines, and in a time of such 
overpowering anxieties and excitement, they could 
scarcely be expected to remain quiet. Accordingly we 
find that in many places the inhabitants were called 
upon to endure sleepless nights, on account of the 
general social disturbance, and their anxieties as to what 
would be the end of it all. 



144 THE GREAT STRIKE. 

The Atlantic Express on the Lake Shore and Michigan 
Southern Railroad arrived at the depot in Erie, Penn- 
sylvania, from Chicago the morning of July 24th, and 
was abandoned by the men. All trains both east and 
west on the Buffalo division were run upon a siding and 
left there, much to the disgust of about three hundred 
through passengers. The train consisted of four heavily- 
laden fast mail cars, and four passenger coaches. The 
strikers were anxious to forward the train to Buffalo, and, 
for this purpose, fired up an engine and put on an engineer 
and fireman. Orders were received from the Superin- 
tendent of the road to hold the train at Erie till further 
notice. A meeting of the strikers was then held. A 
telegram was by them sent to President Hayes, informing 
him that the Railroad Company, and not the strikers,, 
were responsible for the detention of the mails. An- 
other effort was made to take out the train, but the 
attempt was frustrated by the Sheriff, who had been 
ordered by the Superintendent to prevent the strikers 
from taking out the train against the Company's orders. 
The Mayor and other city officials, with special police,, 
went to the scene. Addresses were made, and finally 
the strikers gave up the contest, took off their engineer 
and abandoned the train entirely. Among the passen- 
gers were about sixty women and children, who had suf- 
fered intensely from the inconvenience they had been 
put to. On the Erie Division of the Lake Shore Road 
passenger trains were run as usual. That evening the 
mail matter upon the cars, about fifteen tons in all, was 
unloaded from the cars and taken to the post office. 

Superintendent Polhemus, with his party of repair 
men, and their escort of coal and iron police, arrived at 



GENERAL MOVEMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 145 

Odenwelders, Pennsylvania, July 24th. They had 
gone to repair a turn-table at that point. They were 
met by a large and excited crowd, who drove off the 
repair men, Mr. Polhemus addressed the mob with a 
conciliatory speech, but they replied by informing him 
that he was at liberty to walk back to Mauch Chunk 
with his force. The men then ran his engine on the 
side track and drew the fire. 

The Philadelphia and Erie trainmen struck at Sun- 
bury, Pennsylvania, Tuesday night, July 24th. They 
compelled the shop hands and machinists to strike. The 
excitement was great, but no overt act was committed. 

The strikers at Altoona during the 24th were very 
quiet, although they were successful in keeping a couple 
of local trains from starting out. In the evening at five 
o'clock a train of soldiers arrived en-route for Pittsburgh, 
when the strikers congregated on the railroad and at- 
tempted to keep it from starting, but the train got off, 
and while it was moving out the strikers threw stones 
and fired a number of shots at it. Several soldiers 
returned the fire, bmVno one was hurt. 

At Meadville, Pennsylvania, July 26th, orders were 
issued by General Hodekoper for all companies of the 
Seventh militia to report at Franklin to avoid a conflict 
or the detention of trains, as was the case before. The 
Meadville companies marched out to the city limits,, 
where wagons were in waiting to convey them overland 
to Franklin. They arrived safely. The Green ville, 
Sharon, Conneautville and Erie companies also went by 
wagons. The Cony company attempted to go by raiL 
but were delayed by the Oil Creek Railroad strikers, 
and therefore left the train and took wagons. The Oil 

10 



146 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Creek Greys marched also to camp. The division had 
one thousand men at Franklin, fully armed and equipped, 
and ready to move in case of an emergency. 

The men on the Lehigh Yalley and Lehigh and Sus- 
quehanna roads were all out, and all trains stopped run- 
ning at Mauch Chunk on the 27th. TKe Lehigh Yalley 
officials discharged all their men connected with the strike, 
and paid them off at once. 

The miners at Summit Hill, struck July 27th. They 
demanded an advance of twenty per cent. They marched 
from one mine to another, with loaves of bread 
stuck on poles, and afterwards congregated in front of 
the Company's office when they demanded their pay. 
The Sheriff and Chief of the Police Burgess issued 
proclamations enjoining order, and warning all persons 
of the consequences of acts of violence. 

At Lebanon, Pennsylvania, July 23d, a large crowd 
of people congregated at the depot in the evening to 
await the arrival of the passenger train from the East. 
The militia had all then left for Harrisburg. Several 
fights took place between militia and citizens. Freight 
trains arrived from Reading via Auburn and Prince 
Grove. The excitement was abating. No passenger or 
freight trains arrived then from the east or west on the 
Lebanon Yalley Railroad. The trains on the Lebanon 
and Fremont Railroad were undisturbed. 

At Marietta, Pennsylvania, July 23d, the firemen, 
brakemen, and other hands employed upon several branch 
lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad struck. The strikers 
intimidated all railroaders from running the freight 
trains. Three loaded cars were thrown from the track 
near Chiques, on the Columbia branch, and rolled into 



GENERAL MOVEMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 147 

the Susquehanna river. A large body of tramps who 
had collected in the woods near Marietta took advantage 
-of the unsettled times and proceeded to carry on organ- 
ized outlawry. The malcontent railroad men formed in 
procession and marched from point to point, stationing 
patrols wherever there was a possibility of the non-union 
employes attempting to take a train out. The number 
of strikers increased by the accession of train hands from 
other divisions of the road. The strikers were well 
armed, and many of them amply provided to fight with 
the military. An attempt was made to destroy a signal 
tower just below Columbia during the morning, but the 
fire started by the rioters died out after the incendiaries 
had gone. Some of the leaders in the Baltimore and 
Pittsburgh riot arrived, and endeavored to prevail upon 
the other dissatisfied men, not connected with the rail- 
road, to join in the strike. Much excitement prevailed, 
and the arrival of the troops was awaited with great 
anxiety. 

A band of twenty strikers from Easton, reached Beth- 
lehem, Pennsylvania, July 25th, and congregated at 
Bethlehem Junction. At ten o'clock when the passenger 
train on the Bath branch of the Central Railroad of New 
Jersey was ready to start for Bath, they took possession 
of the train, uncoupled it from the engine, and warned 
the crew that if they undertook to run the train through, 
they would do so at their peril. A large number of citi- 
zens came to the rescue, and while Despatcher Steinman 
was holding consultation with the strikers, the train was 
recoupled and pulled out very rapidly. The strikers 
made an effort to uncouple the last car but failed. W. 
S. Polhemus, Assistant General Superintendent of the 



14 S THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Lehigh and Susquehanna Divisions of the New Jersey- 
Central road, arrived there in a special car with a squad 
of the Coal and Iron Police under Captain Williams. A 
crew was made up, and the through car from Philadel- 
phia to Mauch Chunk was taken by them to its destina- 
tion. 

Events culminated at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in a 
general strike of the railroad men and miners on the 
25th of July. All day long meetings were held by them 
in different portions of the city. At some of the most 
important, newspaper reporters were refused entrance.. 
Every application for admission was thoroughly exam- 
ined before the privilege was granted. From those who 
attended the meetings it was ascertained that the main 
business was the appointing of committees to wait on-, 
the officials who resided there, and through them to 
make their demands known. Several small companies of 
soldiers arrived at Wilkesbarre and were immediately 
marched to the encampment at Lee Park. There were 
then nearly a thousand soldiers in that city. At a late 
hour at night notices were posted up at the Lehigh Val- 
ley Depot, designating what trains would be stopped the 
next day. Up to noon everything went along the road 
as usual, but this was to allow the morning trains to 
reach their destinations. During the afternoon one 
eastern bound freight train on the Valley road was stop- 
ped, and the engineer ordered to run his train on a side 
track and get off his engine. The order was obeyed. 
Nearly five hundred people were assembled at that place 
at the time. 

The situation in the anthracite coal region near Shen- 
andoah, Pennsylvania, had become very disquieting, and 



GENERAL MOVEMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 149 

business of all kinds was at a standstill on July 27. Since 
the long strike of '75, the miners of that region had 
been dissatisfied with their lot, and unfortunately their 
grounds of complaint had become more palpable with the 
lapse of time. Prior to 1875 the average wages of 
miners were very large, ranging between one hundred 
and one hundred and fifty dollars a month a piece, 
but since that time wages have been steadily de- 
creasing until a good miner could scarcely earn in 
a month what he considered pay for a fair ten 
days work three years ago. Their dissatisfaction would 
be easily understood. At the market price of coal, labor 
was worth nothing, although the laborer is said to be 
worthy of his hire. No strike had occurred in Schuyl- 
kill County, though in several parts the miners were 
pretty evenly balancing upon the question of " strike or 
no strike." The most intelligent among them were not 
in favor of going out, saying that half a loaf was better 
than no bread, while others more obtuse said : " We 
:might as well die at once as starve by inches." The 
^majority of the workingmen of that region were hot- 
headed in the extreme, and as a rule, looked after they 
had leaped. On account of the numerous railway strikes 
there had been a great deal of excitement among the 
men, and in various parts of the county parades were 
inagurated for the purpose of creating sentiment in 
favor of the strikers and those who contemplated joining. 
There were several demonstrations there, and to protect 
themselves against what might possibly occur through 
the efforts of demagogues, the citizens organized a home 
guard. In this they followed the example of the citi- 
jzens of Shamokin, the coal centre of Northumberland 



150 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

County. This was the place where the mob endeavored? 
to inagurate a scene of riot and bloodshed, but were 
happily defeated in their object. In Luzerne County 
the miners were out in several districts, and this may be 
placed to the credit of the strikers on the Lehigh Valley 
and Jersey Central Railroads, though the miners of Lu- 
zerne earned much lower wages than their Schulykill 
County brethren. Fears were entertained at Shenan- 
doah that the Luzerne men might visit Schulykill, and 
if that fear was verified, trouble would probably result, as- 
the miners of Luzerne were perfectly aware that what- 
ever misfortune happened Schulykill was money in their 
pockets. 

The strikers at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, stopped all 
trains on the evening of July 25th. A mob numbering 
four thousand filled the depot and streets adjacent, but 
there were few railroaders in the crowd. There was a dis- 
position manifested to allow all passenger trains to pass, 
and a number passed both east and west. The freight 
trains had all been stopped, and none were running. The 
Reading employes struck that morning and ran the 
freight engine into the roundhouse. The city was filled 
with rough looking men drawn there by the strike, most 
of them being tramps, and trouble was feared by their 
depredations. Eight hundred troops, comprising General 
Schofield's division were encamped in the vicinity of 
the arsenal guarding Government stores. They came 
that morning and consisted of nine companies from 
Schulykill County, two from Lebanon, and one from 
Harrisburg. A number of Philadelphia soldiers started 
from Altoona for home on the evening of the 23rd. 
Some of them left the train at Bell's Mills, and some^ 



GENERAL MOVEMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 151 

among them the First City Troop, came as far as Rock- 
ville, where they disembarked because they learned they 
were to do guard duty at the arsenal. It was a fact that 
the First City Troop left Rockville and walked home by a 
roundabout way to avoid the city. A number of sol- 
diers who came from Altoona, were disarmed by a mob 
without offering any resistance. The Pennsylvania rail- 
road officials at Harrisburg were powerless to prevent the 
strikers from stopping trains. Their hands were tied, 
and there was no military or civil authority to help them. 
A crowd which crossed the river in search of Philadel- 
phia militia-men reported coming towards Harrisburg, 
returned to that city about seven o'clock in the evening 
with twenty-three men of the First and Second Regi- 
ments as their prisoners. The captives were well fed and 
treated courteously by the strikers. Captain Snowden 
and thirty-two men of the City Troop of Philadelphia, 
were found a mile outside of the city and conducted to 
the State Arsenal, where they were quartered. At ten 
o'clock on the evening of the 23rd, the mob forced an 
entrance into Altemeir's gun store on Second street, 
Harrisburg, and seized a quantity of firearms. Mayor 
Patterson addressed the crowd and induced them to 
return a part of their plunder. Intense excitement 
prevailed. 

The entire Lackawanna region was idle by the 30th 
of July. A short time before, this region sent nearly 
150,000 tons of coal to market. It now ceased to send 
any. 

The miners of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com- 
pany quit work, and those of the Pennsylvania Coal 
Company were in enforced idleness on account of the 



152 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

destruction of a head-house and bridge on their gravity 
railroad. The head-house, which was situated in the 
woods east of Scranton, was burned down by a mob 
which surprised the watchman and tied him with ropes 
to a neighboring tree. They saturated the wood-work 
and set it off with a match. It made a fierce blaze which 
was plainly visible at Scranton. The destruction of the 
head-house caused a complete stoppage from Hawley to 
Pittston. It was not the work of the Company's em- 
ployes, but of outside persons who took that mode of 
forcing the strike upon them. The Pennsylvania Coal 
Company had recently been working on full time at their 
mines, and the best of feeling existed between themselves 
and their workmen. The latter were indignant at the 
dastardly act. The prospects are that the burned prop- 
erty will not be replaced until the dispute between labor 
and capital is settled. 

A bridge on the Company's road was burned at Spring 
Brook. It was promptly replaced, and within three days 
it was again destroyed. 

At Mill Creek, on the Delaware and Hudson Koad, a 
band of six hundred miners surprised a loaded coal train 
on Saturday, and forced the men to abandon it. There 
was not a mine worked in the valley on the 30th of July, 
and all railroad communications with outside towns were 
thoroughly blockaded. 

Mr. John Brisbin, of New York, went to Scranton to 
consult with the local officers of the corporation, but no 
effort had been made to recover control of the railroads 
•or mines. Governor Hartranf t had transferred to Mayor 
McKinne the services of the State militia, but the Mayor 
declined, as he did not want to shoulder the responsibility 



GENERAL MOVEMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 153 

of calling out the military. The city became very much 
excited over a rumor that the regular troops were going 
there to protect the men at the mine pumps in order to 
prevent the mines from flooding. A strong company of 
old soldiers was organized for the protection of life and 
property, and every man slept with a musket at his bed- 
side ready to rush out at the sound of the gong 

The strike on the main line of the Lehigh Val- 
ley road, July 26th, resulted in a stoppage of nearly 
-all trains on the Hazelton branch. An engine and 
mail car went to Tomhickon and conveyed the mail 
and a few passengers from Sunbury. A committee 
of strikers went down from Wilkesbarre and in- 
duced the employes of the Hazelton division to strike. 
The committee proceeded to Weatherly. The coal 
trains on the Beaver Meadow and Mahanoy divisions 
were running, but on account of the strike on the main 
lines, coal trains could not get beyond Packerton. 

When the detachments of the First, Third and Fifth 
United States Regular Artillery, commanded by Colonel 
Hamilton, which left Philadelphia the 26th, reached 
Johnstown, on the Pennsylvania road, the train was 
stormed and fired into by a mob at that place, and 
several of the soldiers wounded. The regulars disem- 
barked, and a fight ensued in which a number of persons 
were killed. Troops were massed at that point. The 
new Twentieth Regiment, composed of veterans, left 
Philadelphia fully armed and equipped for the scene of 
the fight. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The Tumult at Buffalo. 



The Beginning of the Trouble — A Militia Company Arrives — Exasper- 
ated Strikers — Business Suspended — The Railways all Cease to 
Transport Freight — Threatening Outlook — Governor Robinson's 
Proclamation — Military Movements — The Strike Collapses. 



The trouble at Hornellsville did not immediately 
effect the regular course of business at Buffalo. But it 
became manifest from the movements among the work- 
ingmen, that the city was not to be so fortunate as to 
escape an infliction of tumult and business stagnation 
such as other cities were suffering. It came to Buffalo 
rather suddenly, although not wholly unexpected. 

About nine o'clock, Monday evening, July 23d, a 
Lake Shore train having on board a company of militia 
from Westfield, was stopped at Tifft's Station, just out 
of the city, by a party of strikers. They swarmed into 
the cars and began to take the soldiers' muskets away 
from them. This brought on a fight, in the course of 
which there was some pretty brisk firing at close quar- 
ters. The result was that the militia fled, leaving ten 
muskets in the hands of the strikers. Only one of the 
latter, Michael Lyon, is known to have been killed. 
Following is the list of wounded : William Berrigan, 
right side ; Patrick Breen, mouth and neck ; John Clay, 
switchman, through the lungs, afterward died ; W. J. L. 
Hickey, in the leg ; Paul Lang, right thigh, badly ; M 



THE TUMULT AT BUFFALO. 155 

Murphy, knee, badly. None of the soldiers were killed. 

The morning passed without serious disturbances. 
Gangs of men and boys made the rounds of the factories,, 
urging the hands to quit work, but they accomplished 
nothing. Nearly all the engines were in the shops and 
yards, which, with the depots, were heavily guarded. 
No freight trains had been started during the day, and 
only one passenger train — that for Niagara Falls, over the 
Central road. Two Falls' trains arrived, and the Erie 
mail. On all the crossing switches white flags were dis- 
played with the words, in black letters, " We will let the 
mail go." The strikers were quiet but resolute. 

Travel was stopped on every one of the ten line* 
touching Buffalo, and the only way out then was by boat. 
All day the depots were surrounded by the mob, num- 
bering about two thousand men and boys — a very large 
proportion of them roughs, with whom the real strikers 
did not sympathize. No hostile demonstration had been 
made against railway property since the preceding nighty 
when the mob numbered nearly three thousand, being 
much larger at night than in the day. The mob later 
in the evening began to collect in large force in various 
parts of the city. It became a vast multitude before 
ten o'clock at night. 

The railroad yards at Buffalo stretched nearly ten? 
miles eastward, and the rioters were scattered along this 
distance, thus making no great show at any one point.. 
The arrangements for the defense of the city were 
wholly inadequate. There were only seven hundred 
soldiers there. Of these, one company was thoroughly 
thrashed by the mob Monday night, seventeen of its 
men being wounded or missing; another, an artillery 



156 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

company, was armed with muskets, and a third was an 
unmounted cavalry company. There were only three 
hundred police, aided by a few specials sworn in Mon- 
day. Several of the wounded Westfield soldiers came 
out of hiding at noon the next day to have their wounds 
dressed. 

There was great annoyance and some suffering from 
the embargo on travel. Women travelling with funds 
sufficient only for the journey were left in bad straits, 
and some required the assistance of the charitable. Ten 
" drummers " hired a tug Tuesday afternoon and started 
for Rochester by the canal, hoping to reach that city by 
the following morning. Many passengers from the East 
had come from Niagara Falls, twenty-three miles, in car- 
riages. There were miles of freight and passenger cars 
on the tracks, and, it was estimated, more than a million 
dollars worth of freight. 

The few soldiers who were at Buffalo spoke with 
great repugnance to firing into the mob. Many of them 
sympathized with the strikers, and many women and 
children followed their husbands and fathers into the 
-crowds. A mail train for Elmira was allowed to go 
out on the Erie, Tuesday morning, and several Canada 
Southern passenger trains were permitted to pass, but at 
a late hour in the evening everything was shut tight. 

Hot work was anticipated. The air was full of rumors 
of an attempt to burn the roundhouse of the Lake 
Shore Railroad. General Rogers was making all possible 
preparations. Some three hundred special police were 
sworn in, and the Board of Police issued the following 
notice : 

" The Board of Police desire each and every citizen of 



THE TUMULT AT BUFFALO. 15T 

Buffalo who belives in the supremacy of the law, to call 
at the headquarters of the Police Department and take 
the oath and responsibility of special patrolman, without 
pay, for the maintenance of order and the protection of 
the property of our citizens." 

The Sheriff also issued a call to over five hundred cit- 
izens for a meeting at his office. The citizens were fully 
aroused to the urgency of the case. 

A mob from the Lake Shore and Erie Kailroad, Tues- 
day morning, took the firemen and brakemen from the 
New York Central trains, and unloaded the stock and 
warned employes from further work. No disposition 
was shown on the part of the New York Central em- 
ployes to join the strikers. 

The Lake Shore and Erie shops were closed. The 
mob was in quiet possession and undemonstrative. Lake 
Shore live stock trains were stopped at Collingwood and 
unloaded indiscriminately. Stock was being received 
regularly by the Canada roads. 

At seven o'clock Tuesday evening, the mob reinforced 
by large numbers, called at the car shops of the Lake Shore 
and Erie Companies and ordered all workmen to quit r 
which they did with the greatest alacrity. 

About four in the afternoon of that day, a Buffalo and 
Jamestown train, which departs from the Erie depot, on 
arriving at Compromise crossing, two miles from the 
depot, had the passenger coaches blocked and stoned on 
the central track, and the fireman forcibly taken from 
the engine. Superintendent Doyle, who was on the 
train, remonstrated with the strikers, stating that there 
had been no reduction of wages on the road since its in- 
auguration. The effect of the statement resulted in 



158 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

bringing back the coach by the strikers, who coupled it 
on and assured the Superintendent that nothing would 
be done in any way to interfere with the working of his 
road. 

Early in the afternoon an assault was made by nearly 
two thousand rioters on about two hundred soldiers, 
who were guarding the Lake Shore roundhouse. The 
military were obliged to leave the building, which was 
barricaded by the mob, who proceeded to place cars 
in position as a defence against attack. Colonel Flack, 
of the Sixty-fifth Regiment, with about thirty men 
And three officers, exhibiting a total want of judg- 
ment, proceeded to the roundhouse to retake it 
from the mob. They were met with yells of derision 
from the crowd, and, under a shower of stones, were 
obliged to retreat with precipitate haste and force their 
way through an angry multitude at the point of the bay- 
onet. Some soldiers were seriously cut on the hands 
with knives, and many others were clubbed. Four sol- 
diers lost muskets, which, however, were afterward recov- 
ered. Colonel Flack, who was severely beaten and twice 
knocked down, fled across the canal, and was obliged to 
take refuge in the Lake Shore paint-shop. 

The engineers of the Erie and Lake Shore roads signed 
an agreement with the firemen not to run with green 
hands ; New York Central engineers followed by agree- 
ing to the same pledge that evening. 

During the night the excitement in Buffalo was very 
great. The situation was critical. No number of troops 
sufficiently strong to contend against the vast multitude 
of rioters, was within easy distance of the city. The 
experience of Pittsburgh, had the effect of intensifying 



THE TUMULT AT BUFFALO. 159 

the general feeling of apprehension. All business was 
suspended. Banks refused to discount drafts on New- 
York, and the consequence was a stringency in the 
money market, which had a most depressing effect upon 
the people. Meanwhile the number of the rioters was 
increasing, and the workingmen in other industries than 
railroad operations had quit their employments. The 
tramps from a wide section of the adjacent country, were 
concentrating in the city. 

The managers of the New York Central and Lake 
Shore Railroads declined to forward the mails unless 
permitted to send out passenger trains also, to which the 
strikers objected, and a deputation of strikers visited the 
postmaster the afternoon of the 24th, and asked him to 
forward the mails, stating that they would see them 
safely through. A mail car was sent East that morning, 
and another went the next morning on the Erie Road. 

The citizens organized as special police, and arrange- 
ments were made for the protection of the city. The 
military were on guard at the Exchange street depots all 
day, and notwithstanding large crowds filled the streets 
in the vicinity, no serious collisions occured. At ten 
o'clock Tuesday evening the police charged upon the 
mass on Michigan street, and succeeded in clearing an 
open space. A gang during the day visited many of the 
large manufactories, and attempted to drive out the work- 
men, but in only a few places were they successful. 
Whenever the police found them in force they were 
promptly dispersed. The Westfield company, who were 
set upon and scattered the previous night by the strikers, 
came into the city Tuesday morning with only thirty-six 
men and seventeen guns. They left Westfield with 



— 



160 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

fifty seven men. The following were the names of the 
wounded belonging to that company. Corporal James 
C. Hale, Privates, Orville Ogden, William Rickenbro, 
Dell Barber, George Hursted, W. J. Harvey and Walter 
H. Dixon. 

The members of the Grand Army of the Republic 
residing in Buffalo, numbering about one hundred 
and seventy-five, organized as a company, and ten- 
dered their services to the Mayor for the protection 
of the lives and property of the citizens. Mayor 
Becker, Tuesday evening, issued his proclamation 
ordering all saloons to be closed during the evenings, 
until order could be restored. He also called upon the 
citizens to enroll as special police for the protection of 
the city. 

The arrest of B. J. Donohue, who was apparently the 
organizer of the strikers at Buffalo, as well as Hornells- 
ville, and indeed throughout Western New York, was 
an episode in the history of movements in that section 
of no little interest, and considerable importance. To 
this man, more than any other, was due the complete- 
ness and effectiveness of the strike on the Erie and Lake 
Shore roads. He organized it, not only at Hornellsville, 
but throughout the Western Division of the Erie Rail- 
road. He managed it in his own way, establishing* his 
headquarters with all the confidence of a military chief- 
tain taking command of his forces. His orders were 
the law of the strikers and possibly the cause of the 
strike. He showed himself as much a favorite among 
trackmen, brakemen and firemen on the road as was 
Jack Kehoe, the King of the Mollies, among the miners 
of the anthracite region. And as Kehoe was not a 





THE CONSTRUCTION 



GANG REPAIRING THE TRACKS UNDER PROTECTION^ THE MILITIA. 



THE TUMULT AT BUFFALO. 161 

miner, so Donohue, properly speaking, was not a rail- 
roader. Sometimes he served as a brakeman, but then 
only as a substitute ; and once he kept a saloon. His 
real business was that of the " timer," or " buyer of 
time," and he made large profits out of the people whose 
champion he assumed to be, by advancing them money 
at a high interest — as much as fifteen per cent, it is 
asserted — in anticipation of the paymaster. When the 
strike, which impended because of the reduction of 
wages at the beginning of July last, was ordered, Dono- 
hue was made chairman of the committee having the 
matter in charge. In this way he naturally became the 
leader when the strike actually came ; and more than 
this, it may be said that the strike was his own creation. 

At Buffalo, the strike had almost spent its force. The " 
failure of the strikers to engage the employes of the 
New York Central and other roads, having termini at 
that city, prevented a thorough organization of the labor 
forces. A few regiments of men had been sent to 
Buffalo from other points, but their services were not 
needed. By the 25th of July, the main trouble 
was over. But for several days society was more or less 
disturbed. The police authorities made numerous 
arrests — indeed the prisons were for a time crowded, but, 
as in other cities, they were nearly all subsequently re- 
leased, and even those against whom charges of overt 
acts were prefered, were enabled to secure acquitals and 
dismissals in the courts. 

During the first days of the troubles at Hornellsville 
and Buffalo, Governor Robinson of New York, who 
had gone to Elmira, issued the following proclamation : 



162 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Elmira, 1ST. Y., July 22. 
In the name of the State of New York, 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas, The Receiver appointed by the Supreme 
Court of this State to take care of the management of 
the Erie Railway and its properties has made known to 
me that a conspiracy has been formed to prevent his dis- 
charging his duty as such receiver under the orders of 
said court ; that the business of said road and the run- 
ning of trains has been interrupted by violence, which 
the civil authorities are unable to suppress, and 

Whereas, The honor and good faith of the State 
require that it should protect the said court and its 
officers in the executions of its order. 

Now, therefore, I, Lucius Robinson, Governor of the 
State of New York, by virtue of the authority imposed 
upon me by the Constitution and the laws, command all 
persons engaged in such unlawful acts to desist there- 
from, and I call upon all good citizens and upon all 
authorities, civil and military, to aid in suppressing the 
same, and in preventing breaches of the peace. 

The law recognizes and protects the right of all men 
to refuse to work except upon terms satisfactory to them- 
selves. But it does not permit them to prevent other 
men from working who desire to do so. Unless the 
State is to be given up to anarchy, and its courts and 
laws are to be defied with impunity, its whole power 
must be exerted to suppress violence, maintain order, 
and protect its citizens in their right to work, and the 
business of the country from lawless interruption within 



THE TUMULT AT BUFFALO. 163 

•our borders. It is no longer a question of wages, but of 
the supremacy of the law, which protects alike the lives, 
the liberty, the property, and the rights of all classes of 
citizens. To the maintenance of that supremacy the 
whole power of the State will be invoked if necessary. 

Given under my hand, at the City of Elmira, in the 
State of New York, this twenty-second day of July, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-seven. 

L. Robinson. 

By the Governor, 

D. C. Robinson, Private Secretary. 

The last expiring throes of the mob-spirit was ex- 
hibited at Buffalo on the 26th, when a mob of idlers 
marched through the streets, visiting manufactories and 
other establishments where large numbers of men were 
employed, for the purpose of inducing the laborers to 
strike. In these movements they were unsuccessful, and 
were easily dispersed at a later hour in the day by a 
troop of mounted policemen. 

By the close of the day on the 26th trains had re- 
sumed on all the roads, and the City of Buffalo had as- 
sumed its ordinary appearance, the people having re- 
turned to their customary avocations. The days of 
excitement were past, the strike had ended. 



CHAPTER XIY. 



The Federal Administration. 



Precautionary Measures — The Rioter Declared to be in a State of 
Insurrection — Indications of Trouble in Other Regions — General 
Schofield Ordered to Washington — Determination to Send General 
Hancock to Pittsburgh — The Rule of the Mob to be Overthrown 
by the Fiiends of Law and Order. 



The tendency to complete anaichy had become so mani- 
fest that the Government at Washington began to look 
at it in the light of an insurrection of a most formidable 
character — more dangerous, indeed, than would be a re- 
volt of State governments, 

The Cabinet held almost daily meetings about this 
time. On the 24th, a protracted session was held. The 
subject discussed was the situation of the country, and 
the difficulty experienced by the Government in conse- 
quence of the strike. 

The Treasury Department had become seriously em- 
barrassed - on account of the inability experienced in 
despatching and receiving shipments of bonds and cur- 
rency. 

At another meeting of the Cabinet on the 25th, it was 
formally decided to treat the riotous demonstrations all 
over the country as an insurrection, and to suppress it in 
accordance with the law of the United States and the stat- 
utes in such cases made and provided. That was the 
temper of the Cabinet meeting. It was ordered that 
additional troops should be stationed along the line of 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 165 

the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for the purpose of 
opening at once the entire line to freight and passenger 
traffic. The troops which arrived at Washington from 
the South, Thursday night, were forwarded to Martins- 
burg and Cumberland to re-enforce those already there. 
Every person who resisted them were to be held amen- 
able under the President's proclamation, and, if possible, 
were to be promptly arrested. All unlawful gatherings 
were to be dispersed. It was also determined to sus- 
tain Governor Hartranft in his proclamation, open the 
Pennsylvania road, and suppress the resistance elsewhere 
to the laws in Pennsylvania. 

There had been such a concentration of the regular 
army and marine and naval forces, that no doubt was en- 
tertained of the ability of the Government to put down 
the rioters and place the railroads in running order. 

Public attention had been directed mainly to St. Louis 
and Chicago. The despatches from the Eastern States 
continued to be reassuring, and the opinion at the War 
Department was that there would be little or no trouble 
in the East thereafter. The opening of the Erie road, 
the persistent refusal of the JSTew York Central employes 
to strike, and the failure of the Commune meeting in New 
York, had contributed to that belief. 

Major-General Schofleld, of the regular army, arrived 
at Washington, Wednesday, July 25th, and had a long 
conference with the President and members of the Cab- 
inet. He subsequently furnished some very interesting 
statements of the situation in the States under the com- 
mand of General Hancock, with whom he was co-opera- 
ting, and of the intentions of the Government. He 
regarded Pittsburgh as the important place, and said the 



166 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Government was resolved to suppress every vestige of 
mob violence there in the next twenty-four hours. He 
feared there would be a water famine in that city, and 
did not believe that provisions would hold out there be- 
yond three days. It was therefore necessary that the 
men should return to work on the railroads and on the 
water works. 

" We are determined," he said, " to operate the roads, 
re-open the shops, and to restore business and confidence. 
The troops which go to Pittsburgh under General Han- 
cock's orders will see that all these are accomplished. It- 
will show the rioters in the West and New York that the 
Government is of the people and with the people in re- 
storing law and order." 

General Schofield in speaking of the offers from the 
South was well pleased with it, and said that from what 
he had heard, one hundred thousand men were ready to 
come at the call of the President to protect the Govern- 
ment and State from insurrectionary movements. He 
said the Government had removed all the regular troops 
from the South, except a few in the forts, and was amply 
prepared with them and other detachments from the 
East and West to protect St. Louis, Chicago and other 
cities. Referring to the strength of the regular army,. 
General Schofield said that when General Sherman pub- 
licly spoke in New York, recently, of the dependence of 
the Government upon it he knew what he was about, for 
he had travelled about the country extensively and knew 
its condition and the trouble likely to grow out of it and 
the probability that the Government would be called 
upon to protect the people from them. It was the duty 
©f the army, General Schofield maintained, to aid in 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 167 

suppressing the present revolt, and the duty of congress 
and the legislatures to provide legislation to prevent 
another one in future. General Schofield added that he 
found the President fully alive to the situation, and de- 
termined in his purpose to restore peace at once and that 
he had forces sufficient to accomplished it. 

Senator Saunders, of Nebraska, and Kirk wood, of 
Iowa, called on the President, Wednesday the 25th, and 
informed him that the situation in the West and North- 
west was serious, and that if he should decide to call an 
extra session of congress, they would be among the first 
to approve his course. They declared that the public 
sentiment of their section was against mob-rule. The 
President replied that he was opposed to calling congress 
together. He did not think it would afford any imme- 
diate remedy for the existing troubles, which he believed 
would be out of the way long before congress could be 
convened. It does not appear that the question of call- 
ing an extra session had been seriously considered 
by the President and Cabinet since the demonstrations 
began. 

Five companies of the Eighteenth Infantry arrived at 
Washington, on the 25th of July, from South Carolina, 
under command of Colonel Black, and three of the com- 
panies left early the next morning, under command of 
the same officer, to join General Getty's command at 
Cumberland, Maryland. The other two companies re- 
mained at Washington, ready to be forwarded to any 
neighboring point should their services be needed. The 
Eighteenth Infantry is General Ruger's regiment, but 
that officer did not come with it, he being in command 
of the department of the South. General Schofield, ac- 



168 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

companied by his aid, Lieutenant Michler, arrived from 
Philadelphia, Tuesday night. He had returned to Wash- 
ington, at the request of the President, who desired a 
full report from him, he having been sent to Philadel- 
phia to confer with General Hancock, who is the senior 
Major-General in command. 

The troops from the Department of the Gulf ordered 
to Louisville, Kentucky, reached that city Thursday, as 
was reported to the War Department. 

The Cabinet determined that General Hancock should 
proceed to Pittsburgh with a large force of troops, and 
he started for that .place immediately. The principal 
object in his going over the line of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad to Pittsburgh was to aid the workingmen in 
rebuilding the roads that supplies might be sent to the 
various cities along the line, and to establish communi- 
cation between Philadelphia and the interior of the 
State. 

The following is the substance of the order which 
assigned Major-General Sdiofield to the command of the 
troops in Washington. 

" By direction of the President, Major-General Scho- 
fleld is assigned to temporary duty at the Headquarters 
of the Army, dating from the 23d instant, in addition 
to his command of the Department of West Point. 

The forces of the United States, including the Navy 
and Marine Corps in the District of Columbia, will be 
reported to Major-General Schofield and act under his 
command." 

Tuesday afternoon a large crowd gathered on Yirginia 
avenue, South Washington, and along the line of the 
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, upon which was stand- 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION". 169 

ing a locomotive and five ears filled with soldiers of the 
Third, Fifth and Second Artillery, who, with two com- 
panies of infantry, were about to depart for Philadel- 
phia. A report was started and rapidly circulated that 
the engineer of the locomotive, which was to head the 
train, had declared that he would carry no " troop train " 
out of Washington, and this report, coupled with other 
rumors to the effect that the cars would not be allowed 
to leave, quickly stirred up considerable excitement. 
The crowd was composed largely of laboring men, two- 
thirds of whom were colored. It did not appear that 
any railroads hands were mingling in the commo- 
tion. Several of them were at work at the scene assist- 
ing loading cars, repairing tracks, and performing the 
respective duties with fidelity and were in no way 
molested, but held themselves aloof from any exciting 
conversation. Major Richards, Chief of Police, with an 
efficient detachment of the police force, was in the 
midst of the crowd, having promptly responded to the 
reports of anticipated trouble, and their presence un- 
doubtedly had a salutary effect in preserving order. The 
soldiers quietly watched from the car windows the pro- 
ceedings on the streets. In addition to the rifles of the 
troops, two Gatling guns and two caisons. were shipped 
on the train. About 4:30, everything being in readiness, 
the bell sounded, and the train moved off with its regular 
employes attending to their duties. Some of the crowd 
eheered and called out to the soldiers not to shoot at the 
strikers, and several of the men in the cars waved hats 
and handkerchiefs from the windows. The crowd soon 
scattered, and absolute quiet reigned. It was the inten- 
tion of the Government to throw a strong force along 



170 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as far west 
as the Ohio river, for the purpose of opening and keep- 
ing that road open to freight and passenger trains. 

The Post office and War Departments were thoroughly 
advised of the situation at various points. A telegram 
from a thoroughly reliable source, received from Lynch- 
burgh, Ya., mentioned that the Atlantic, Mississippi and 
and Ohio, the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, the 
Memphis and Charleston, and the Memphis and Little 
Rock Railroad Companies had no trouble on their lines, 
nor was it believed that any would occur. A telegram 
received at the War Department from G-eneral Pope, an- 
nounced that the danger of mob violence at St. Louis 
was lessening hourly. Another subject in connection 
with the strike which was discussed at length in the Cab- 
inet meeting, was in regard to the United States courts 
sustaining receivers appointed by them for certain roads. 
The courts were to issue writs to the Marshals', instruct- 
ing them to see that the roads in the hands of receivers 
were not interfered with by rioters, and the Marshals 
had the power, if necessary, to summon a posse to en- 
force the orders of the courts. This order brought the 
rioters in direct opposition to the power of the Federal 
Government in any attempt to interfere with any roads 
in the hands of receivers, and it was agreed by the Cabi- 
net that the whole power of the Government should be 
brought to bear to sustain the United States Marshals, 
in case of necessity. 

General Vincent was on duty at the War Department, 
and in almost constant receipt of despatches from the 
military commanders at the various points of disturb- 
ance. 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 171 

The telegrams were promptly sent to the President at 
the Soldiers' Home, giving him information as to the 
condition of affairs in the various cities. The regular 
troops in Chicago were, as in other States, under the 
orders of the Governor, and under those orders they 
were placed subject to the Mayor of Chicago, for the 
protection of property, and to maintain the peace. The 
forces in that city were six companies of the Twenty- 
second Infantry and six companies of the Ninth Infantry. 

Colonel Black, in command of three companies of the 
Eighteenth Infantry, went from Washington and reached 
Cumberland, and then proceeded to Grafton, West Vir- 
ginia. General Pope telegraphed that the last of the 
fourteen companies ordered from the West to St. Louis 
would reach there Tuesday morning. He considered the 
public property at St. Louis and Chicago secure. Gen- 
eral Ruger had been ordered by General Hancock to 
Louisville, and to assume immediate control of the troops 
at that point and at Newport. Batteries D and I, of the 
Fifth Artillery, from the Department of the South, 
reached Baltimore Tuesday afternoon. 

The forces of the United States steamer Tallapoosa, 
receiving ship Wyoming, at the navy yard at Washing- 
ton, were kept in readiness to be sent to any point upon 
brief notice. The Secretary of the Navy also gave 
orders to have the force and vessels at the Philadelphia 
Navy Yard in readiness for service, to protect public 
property in that city, and aid the civil authorities in the 
maintenance of law and order. 

The Adams Express Company advised the Treasury 
Department on the 24:th, that for the present it would not 
transport money packages between New York and 
Washington, considering such service to be unsafe. 



172 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The situation of Pennsylvania having become alarm- 
ing, the Governor of that State, hastening home from 
the West, whither he had gone, called out the military 
forces of the State, and made a formal call upon the 
President of the United States for assistance, whereupon 
the following document was promulgated : 

By the President of the United States of America. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas, It is provided in the Constitution of the 
United States, that the United States shall protect every 
State in the Union on application of the Legislature, or 
of the Executive, when the Legislature cannot he con- 
vened, against domestic violence ; and 

Whereas, The Governor of the State of Pennsylvania 
has represented that domestic violence exists in said 
State, which the authorities of said State are unable to 
suppress : and 

Whereas, The laws of the United States require that 
in all cases of insurrection in any State, or of obstruction 
to the laws thereof, whenever, in the judgment of the 
President, it becomes necessary to use the military forces 
to suppress such insurrections or obstructions to the laws, 
he shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such in- 
surgents to disperse, and retire peaceably to their re- 
spective abodes within a limited time ; 

Now, therefore, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of 
the United States, do hereby admonish all good citizens 
of the United States, against aiding, countenancing, abet- 
ting, or taking part in such unlawful proceedings, and I 
do hereby warn all persons engaged in or connected with 
the said domestic violence and obstruction of the laws, 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 173 

to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes 
on or before twelve o'clock noon, of the 24th day of July 
instant. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this 23d day of July, 
in the year of Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-seven, and of the independence of the United 
States of America the one hundred and second. 

E. B. Hayes. 
By the President : 

William M. Evarts, Secretary of State. 

Many prominent citizens of Washington had a satis- 
factory interview with Secretary McCrary and Secretary 
Thompson in regard to the extent and character of the 
forces at hand for the protection of the capital city, in 
case of emergency. Both the Secretary of War and 
of the Navy were prompt in giving the assurance 
that the force of the Government was ample, and 
in a position to be readily available for the protection of 
both public and private property in Washington. They 
expressed satisfaction with the assurance that the citizens 
of Washington would be ready to co-operate with the 
Government authorities in the maintenance of public 
order. 

The War Department about this time presented a scene 
of unusual activity, numerous telegrams were being trans- 
mitted between the Department and various military 
commanders, especially General Pope, commanding the 
Department of the Missouri, and General Hancock, com- 
manding the Military Division of the Atlantic, in regard 



174 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

to the movements of troops for the protection of public 
property. Adjutant General Townsend, with a corps of 
assistants remained at the Department throughout the 
night. 

The measures taken by the general Government for 
the protection of Pennsylvania were hearing good fruits. 
About this time a despatch was received at Army Head- 
quarters from General Hancock, at Philadelphia, in which 
he reported that matters were comparatively quite, that 
citizens were organizing for the purpose of preserving 
peace. Information in the hands of the Government 
warranted the belief that affairs were less threatening in 
all the disturbed districts, with the exception of Eeading. 
The Government had no available troops to send to 
Reading, but efforts were made to cover that point at an 
early time. The Government had made most efficient 
arrangements through the Signal Office for communica- 
tion throughout the entire country, and were receiving 
despatches regularly every hour, giving information as to 
the condition of affairs. Great activity prevailed in the 
Adjutant General's Office and Ordinance Departments. 
The President and Secretary of War were momentarily 
advised by telegraph of any change in the situation. The 
Adjutant General prepared a statement of the United 
States forces in the South, and if necessary, it was deter- 
mined to order North the remainder of the troops, save 
a small force as a guard to Government property. 

Orders were issued from the Navy Department to 
have the various iron-clads at Washington, Philadelphia, 
and elsewhere, prepared for service immediately, and en- 
gineer officers were ordered to report on board, to move 
them without delay should it become necessary to do so. 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 175 

The President visited both the War and Navy Depart- 
ments, and held consultations with Secretaries McCrary 
and Thompson. 

In hisrh administration circles it was believed that the 
crisis in the pending strikes was past, and by mutual 
concessions, the pending differences between the railroad 
companies and their employes would be satisfactorily 
adjusted. It was not believed that the financial question, 
as had been alleged in some quarters, had any thing to 
do with the outbreaks along the lines of the railroads, 
but that they were entirely of a local nature. It was 
shown in fact, that at Pittsburgh, for instance, where 
there is an arsenal in which was stored a large supply of 
arms and ammunition, no hostile demonstrations were 
made which might be construed into antagonism to the 
Government. 

Little by little the truth leaked out, until men were 
well informed of the inner councils and earlier purposes 
of the Administration, and were constrained to marvel at 
the facility with which the President bent to the orders 
of Colonel Thomas A Scott and men like Colonel Scott. 
It is not easy to understand clearly what passed in the 
Cabinet, but it is possible to comprehend that the emphatic 
declaration of Evarts — and one or two other Secretaries 
used the same phrase — in detailing the Cabinet decis- 
ions and discussions that the Government should not and 
must not go into the railroad business, presented the 
weakness of the National Administration in a manner to 
be deplored by every patriotic American. 

Three Cabinet meetings in twenty-four hours gave a 
very fair gauge of the anxiety of the administration and 
the perplexity of the President. The late war saw little 



176 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

like this quick succession of councils, and fortunately 
nothing like the lack of counsel. The Cabinet sat two- 
hours one day and separated. ]STo second meeting was 
expected during that day. The President and Secretary 
McCrary drove out to the Soldier's Home. They went 
five miles out of town to Edgemount. All the afternoon 
messages were passing over the long unused wire to the 
old Presidential cottage. 

The President grew more and more alarmed, and Col- 
onel Thomas A. Scott pelted him with despatches, [per- 
emptory and dictatorial. The whole series of despatches 
from railroad chiefs like Garret and Scott during those 
days of trouble would give the public a curious notion of 
the temper in which these men regard the President of the 
United States. Colonel Thomas A. Scott demanded ex- 
treme measures — all but commanded them. Pennsyl- 
vania must be declared in rebellion ; the President must 
call for volunteers ; the roads must be protected at once 
by the general Government. And the despatches were 
enforced by the arrival of his private Secretary in a 
special car. The text of these despatches are known to 
few, but they were read at the Cabinet meetings and left 
on the minds of one or two of the Cabinet Ministers the 
impression that the " railroads wanted to run the Gov- 
ernment." What and how much this means will hardly 
be believed on any thing short of the authority of a Cab- 
inet Minister, but despatches were received demanding 
not only the preservation of the peace, but the movement 
of the trains by the Government. These men, speaking 
of their private property and personal interests as a 
national enterprise, declared that the riot could not be 
quieted until the Government had enabled them to run 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. ITT 

the trains which lay blockaded by supplying men, or sup- 
plying force to get men for the purpose. And the demand 
was backed bj the declaration that the Government was 
bound to see not that peace, but that the commerce of 
the country was re-established in its usual channels. The 
President gave way before the pressure and drove to 
town again the same day, with confused ideas as to what 
should be done at the conference at Evart's house, but 
with clear ideas that something should be done to satisfy 
the demands of the roads. The story that only Evarts 
prevented rash orders, or the still wilder step of a declara- 
tion of insurrection and a call for volunteers is probably 
not far from the truth. True or false, certain it is that 
the conference met in that nervous uncertainty which 
drives together men too much alarmed to remain apart. 
Although called to take some signal step, the Cabinet 
conference adjourned without result. 

Two hours longer the Cabinet talked and worried over 
the fear of a great disaster. A great heap of despatches 
had accumulated. Scott's messages and the messages 
of men like him had grown sharp. The fond hope that 
the strike was failing was overthrown by the news from 
Philadelphia that an oil train was on fire. 

Eor the third time the Cabinet carefully rehearsed the 
forces at their disposal, and this discussion the Cabi- 
net went over time and again, vaguely estimating the 
number of militia regiments on whom the Government 
could depend, with such vague data as existed at Wash- 
ington. The fidelity of the regiments in New York was 
discussed, and the number of trustworthy men which 
Hartranft's last call would bring to the field, was calcu- 
lated. Some purpose of pushing the general Govern- 

12 



178 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

ment to the front as the chief actor in suppressing these 
riots, instead of keeping it upon the safe ground of an 
aid to the legitimate State authority, appears to have 
divided the Cabinet, it having been very pertinently 
agreed that no Presidential proclamation would insure 
the fidelity of a doubtful regiment, while a hasty 
attempt to enlist and arm volunteers was not to be 
thought of. The proclamation concerning Pennsyl- 
vania in terms like the two which preceded it, was at 
last agreed upon, but not before the Cabinet reached the 
conclusion that the only militia on which full reliance 
could be placed, were in New England and the South, 
and it was timidly suggested by this singular council 
that an attempt to suppress widespread disorder in the 
Middle States by marching into them troops of the 
Southern and Eastern States, would mean more than a 
suppression of a riot, it might mean sectional war. 

The position assumed by the railroad companies in 
regard to the running of mail trains was a most serious 
obstacle to the proper despatch of the postal service. 
The gravest trouble was at Chicago, from which place 
the following dispatch was received by the Post-office 
Department from James E. White, Assistant Superin- 
tendent Railway Transportation : 

" Companies state that they expect strikers to take pos- 
session of mail trains, and run them. I have been asked 
by such companies to instruct clerks and agents to allow 
none but authorized agents of the Companies to proceed 
with mail cars in case attempts are made by strikers to 
run said cars. I am asked to instruct clerks and agents 
to place the mail in charge of the nearest post-office. 
I cannot issue such instructions, and believe clerks and 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 179 

agents should accompany these cars and distribute the , 
mails no matter who run the cars. Am I right ? Please 
answer, that I may know how to act. A fight is now in 
progress on the Burlington road exit from city." 

In the particular matter at issue the Department 
appeared to have no definite policy, it was very anxious 
to move the mails, and it did not wish to break with the 
roads. To the above despatch the following answer was 
sent : 

"The question you submit as to what the Department 
will do if strikers take possession of, and propose to run 
mail trains, will be promptly decided when an actual 
case shall arise. It is probable the Department will not, 
under any circumstances, encourage the strikers to the 
extent of recognizing their right to carry the mails on 
trains forcibly taken from the railroad companies." 

At most points in the country the mails were moving 
with reasonable freedom. At Pittsburgh the Postmaster 
telegraphed : "All mails are forwarded via here, with 
delay of only twelve hours, caused by transfer. Have 
received despatch saying that all mail trains departed 
from Cincinnati on time ; on the Ohio and Mississippi 
with only an engine and postal cars. In Indianapolis 
matters were by no means so favorable, and Postmaster 
Holloway telegraphed : " Strikers now say that they will 
only allow one passenger train each way, but will let 
mail run on any train. I do not think roads will run 
unless they can take passengers. There is great indigna- 
tion at the failure to lift the blockade. Our Mayor is too 
weak, and our Governor will do nothing. He is believed 
to sympathize with the strikers." Some political feeling 
<doubtless suggested the remark in regard to Governor 



180 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Williams. The situation at St. Louis appeared to have 
somewhat improved. Superintendent Hunt telegraphed 
from there : "Mails are running regularly upon all the 
roads in this division, and upon all roads out of St. Louis 
except Chicago and St. Louis, Evansville and St. Louis, 
Quincy and St. Louis, and Rock Island and St. Louis." 

By the 29th and 30th of July, the situation had great- 
ly improved. At the National Capital popular interest 
in the railway strike seemed to have subsided entirely, 
and the officers of the Government, whose duty it had 
been to respond to the numerous calls for assistance or 
advice, received from the disturbed districts, were allowed 
to spend two very quiet days. Reports received bv the 
Administration were of the most reassuring character. 
No trouble had been announced on the Baltimore and 
Ohio Road calling for any action on the part of the Fed- 
eral military. As a precaution, a force of one hundred 
and fifty marines was marched to the Baltimore and Ohio 
depot, in Washington, and held there until late in the 
evening of the 29th, in order that it might be ready for 
immediate departure to any point of difficulty, in case 
any resistance should be made to the starting of freight 
trains, which was to be attempted, but the force was not 
required. The loss of perishable freight on the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad was reported by gentlemen who 
arrived from Cumberland, as much greater than had been 
supposed. The Cabinet was in session about an hour. 
Saturday the 28th, various telegrams were read in regard 
to the troubles received by the Secretary of War, all of 
which showed a decided improvement in the condition 
of affairs. 

Two companies of marines from the headquarters of 



THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 181 

the corps commanded by Captain Bishop, joined those 
at the Washington Arsenal on Friday, and Saturday a 
battalion under Captain James Forney reported at the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station, by order of General 
Schofield, to assist in moving freight trains on the road. 
Considerable guard duty was being done by the marines. 
A battalion under Colonel Charles Heywood was guard- 
ing the Pennsylvania Railroad in West Philadelphia, and 
a third battalion was at the Watervliet Arsenal, West 
Troy, New York. One company was held in reserve at 
the headquarters at Washington and others were at 
Brooklyn, Boston, and League Island Barracks. Norfolk 
Navy Yard and the ships of the North Atlantic Squadron 
had been stripped of marines on account of the labor 
strikes. Several officers who were at home enjoying 
their usual summer-leave surrendered it voluntarily and 
joined their battalions. 

The company which marched to the Baltimore and 
Ohio station on the 28th stacked arms after getting there, 
and remained in readiness to leave for Baltimore at a 
moment's notice, if necessary, until late in the afternoon 
despatches were then received, saying that trains were 
moving without trouble, and the marines returned to 
their quarters. General Barry reported that during the 
departure of trains from Baltimore large crowds were 
present, and some little demonstrations were made, but 
no disturbance took place. He had five hundred men 
present, with two field pieces in position. 



CHAPTEK XY. 



Affairs in Philadelphia. 



The Call for Troops — Gathering the Militia — Anxious Days — Governor 
Hartranft and Mayor Stokely — A Street Riot — Dispersing a Meet- 
ing — Colonel Thomas A. Scott and the Locomotive Engineers — 
Philadelphia a Nicer Place than Pittsburgh. 



The call for the militia to go to Pittsburgh created the 
first ripple of excitement in the metropolis of Pennsyl- 
yania. There were a number of largely attended meetings 
held, but these did not serve to create any very serious 
apprehensions in the public mind. Meanwhile the strikes 
taking place all over the country became the topic of 
conversation, and within a few days the country was in 
a feverish state of mind. Philadelphia shared in all this. 
The large number of railroad men in the city, their 
evident sympathy with the strikers, the doubt as to what 
direction the movement might take, conspired to arouse 
the citizens of Philadelphia to a realizing sense of the 
magnitude of the dangers which threatened their city^ 
no less than the entire Union. In Philadelphia, as else- 
where, the Commune began to raise its Gorgon head to 
the terror of all law-abiding citizens. There were tumul- 
tuous gatherings and one or two lives lost and many 
persons wounded before the difficulty was ended in 
Philadelphia. 

During the evening of July 23d, over three thousand 
people assembled around the Pennsylvania Railroad 



AFFAIRS IN PHILADELPHIA. 183 

depot, where Colonel Thomas A. Scott, Mayor Stokely, 
and a number of railroad officials were in consultation. On 
the arrival of a train, or the occurrence of the slightest 
incident which could furnish a pretence for excitement, 
the crowd would rush across the open space in front of 
the depot, and throng the waiting room almost to suffoca- 
tion. The saloons in the vicinity did a thriving business, 
and a number of drunken men were in the street. 

At five o'clock the crowd in the depot had increased to 
such an extent that the Mayor and Chief of Police were 
obliged to call out the reserve police, and clear the place 
of all idlers. The Mayor also drove around the neigh- 
borhood of the depot, dispersing the crowds that were 
gathering on the street corners and in vacant lots. 

The Mayor declared he would not put a musket into 
the hands of his police until an actual ne3essity should 
arise for his so doing. At the depot, Colonel Thomas A. 
Scott received a despatch concerning the Governor of 
Pennsylvania, as follows : 

" Governor Hartranft is en route for Pennsylvania, 
and has telegraphed ahead, ordering out every militia 
regiment in the State. He has also telegraphed to the 
President of the United States, calling for troops, and 
suggesting the propriety of a call for volunteers.' ' 

The Mayor issued the following proclamation : 

Mayor's Office, Philadelphia, July 22. 

To all whom it may concern : 

Whereas^ Violence, tumult, and riot exist in various 
portions of this commonwealth, to the great injury of 
domestic industry and trade, and to the discredit of 
American institutions and form of government, the per- 



184 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

fection of which was last year celebrated in this city of 
the Republic's birth ; and 

Whereas, It is of the highest importance that the great 
name which Philadelphia has made for herself among 
the nations of the earth during the centennial year shall 
be spared the horrible scenes enacted in our sister cities, 
Now, therefore, I, William S. Stokely, in the name of 
the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and by virtue of the 
authority vested in me by law, do appeal to all citizens 
•of every occupation and calling to render it unnecessary 
that in the performance of my duty I should be called 
upon to suppress any outbreak and violence, which I as- 
suredly will do if the occasion requires it, and hand over 
the offenders to condign punishment ; and I make this 
appeal in the firm belief that the citizens of Philadelphia 
appreciate, as I do, the importance of maintaining peace 
and good will among all classes of society, and I hereby 
pledge myself to give a patient hearing and impartial 
justice, as I best know how, to all persons who desire it. 
Let all the people resume and continue their lawful occu- 
pations, and avoid assembling and organizing together 
for discussion or otherwise at the present time. This is 
the surest and best means of preserving the honor and 
fair name of the City of Brotherly Love. 

(Signed) ¥m. S. Stokely, Mayor. 

At the Pennsylvania depot on Saturday, a colored reg- 
iment presented itself for transportation to Baltimore. 
After occupying a number of cars with the troops, the 
hour arrived for the departure of the train. The engi- 
neer refused to move the train. Mr. Lockhart, who was 
in charge of the train, tried to persuade him, but in 



AFFAIRS IN PHILADELPHIA. 185 

vain. He said he would take any number of white men, 
but the company was foolish to attempt to forward ne- 
groes, who would certainly be killed on sight in Balti- 
more, and he did not propose to be killed with them. 
Mr. Lockhart unloaded the colored troops. 

In the Pennsylvania Kailroad yard at "West Philadel- 
phia, Monday evening, while one of the shifting engines 
was preparing to move an oil car, the engineer was com- 
pelled by a crowd of unknown men to detach his engine, 
and allow the cars to remain. This was the first indi- 
cation of any interference with the Railroad Company at 
Philadelphia. 

At a little after midnight, July 24th, 1877, about four 
hundred troops of the regular army from Washington, 
arrived at the West Philadelphia depot, half of whom 
were immediately posted on the railroad company's 
grounds, in the vicinity of the roundhouse, while the re- 
mainder were taken to the City Armory at Broad and 
Race streets. The men were all provided with blankets, 
haversacks, and canteens, and were prepared for any ser- 
vice, however long or arduous. The detachment was 
what was known as the Tenth Regiment of Artillery, 
Colonel Franks commanding. 

When the troops arrived and marched out of the depot 
there was a general gathering of officials and citizens, all 
of whom manifested a feeling of relief and security. 
From an early hour in the morning until midnight their 
arrival was eagerly looked for, and when they made their 
appearance the universal sentiment was that no demon- 
stration could possibly be made by the strikers that 
would not be immediately put down. 

Peace reigned supreme, and no disturbance occurred 



186 THE GKEAT STRIKES. 

that night. Such a strong force of policemen, marines, 
and soldiers were on duty that it seemed hardly possible 
for the strikers to attempt the commission of any out- 
rage. The utmost vigilance was exercised by all the 
officials, both day and night, and every night after the 
commencement of the troubles, Colonel Thomas A. Scott 
slept at the depot. Mayor Stokely was present at the 
depot, closely watching every movement, and issuing 
orders for any emergency that might arise. A number 
of the regulars were conducted to the old stock-yards at 
Belmont and Lancaster avenues, where they encamped. 

At a meeting of the Philadelphia Commercial Ex- 
change, on the 25th of July, the following preamble and 
resolutions were adopted : 

Whereas, The true interests of the country and the 
welfare of its citizens depend wholly upon their respect 
for and obediance to the laws ; and 

Whereas, There are large mobs assembled in various 
places who have been, and are now engaged, in disregard 
of the same, in destroying both life and property, on the 
security of both of which all labor necessarily depends ; 
and 

Whereas, These mobs have obtained such control of 
the avenues of transportation as to suspend the operating 
of the same, therefore restricting our commerce, and 
leaving our steamers laying idle at our wharves, to the 
very serious prejudice, not only to ourselves as mer- 
chants, and to our correspondents, but also to our respec- 
tive employes, by depriving them of the necessary labor 
by which they earn their livelihood ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the President of the United States be 
requested to use such force by the increase of the mili- 



AFFAIRS IN PHILADELPHIA. 187 

tary forces of the nation, if necessary, not only to sup- 
press all unlawful violence, but also to secure protection 
against any recurrence of the same. 

Resolved, That the earnest thanks of this association 
be tendered to the President of the United States for 
what he has done. 

Similar resolutions were also adopted by the Maritime- 
Exchange and Board of Trade. 

One of the saddest incidents of the strike was wit- 
nessed at Philadelphia on the 25th, upon the arrival at 
the depot of four dead bodies of soldiers, of the First 
Militia Kegiment, killed in Pittsburgh. Among the four 
was the body of Lieutenant J. Dorsey Ash, of the Key- 
stone Battery. When the train stopped, there stepped 
from one of the rear cars a lady, with bowed head and 
grief-stricken face, supported by a gentleman, who con- 
ducted her tenderly through the depot to a carriage 
standing at the entrance. That lady was the widow of 
Lieutenant Ash. 

The Philadelphia police, in breaking up a meeting at 
the corner of Berks and South streets, on the night of 
the 28th, were stoned by a crowd of about twenty-five 
hundred men, and had several shots fired at them. A des- 
perate fight ensued, and the police say that they fired in 
the air ; but when the affair was over, the body of a boy, 
about seventeen years old, was found dead, with a bullet 
in his head. Several of the police were injured by fly- 
ing missiles. 

Governor Hartranft, and his entire staff, started from 
the West Philadelphia Station at two o'clock in the af- 
ternoon of the 26th, bound West. Orders had been pre- 
viously issued for the assembling of all the militia re- 



188 THE GEE AT STRIKES. 

maining in Philadelphia, at the armory, at the corner of 
Broad and Race streets, at one p. m., to proceed to West 
Philadelphia, and on the same train with the Governor, 
detatchments of the Keystone Battery, State Fencibles, 
and the Second, First and Sixth Regiments, took passage 
for the vicinity of Pittsburgh. The authorities were 
reticent about the movements of the military, but every 
one knew they were destined for Blairsville, where the 
main body of the State troops were stationed. 

The Eleventh Regiment, made up of men from Ches- 
ter, Westchester, Media and other points in that vicinity, 
joined the detachments from Philadelphia at Paoli. Bat- 
teries K and M of the Second Artillery, and Battery I 
of the Fourth, with Companies of Engineers from Balti- 
more, arrived at the Philadelphia station, and also pro- 
ceeded up the road. There was no excitement or stir 
about the station, and trains to New York were running 
regularly. 

A telegram was received on the 27th, by General Sel- 
f ridge from Governor Hartranft stating that the latter 
would accept a regiment of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public men at once. The different posts were organiz- 
ing companies, and the regimental organization was after- 
wards effected. The command was fully one thousand 
men, all veterans. 

Feeling that the city was sufficiently protected by re- 
gular troops, General Brannan, by direction of General 
Hancock, forwarded orders to the commander of a body 
of soldiers, expected at Philadelphia from Niagara, to 
stop at New Fork, to be on hand in case of any uprising 
in that city. 

Before leaving Philadelphia, the evening of the 26th, 



AFFAIRS IN PHILADELPHIA. 180 

Governor Hartranft issued the following order to the 
National Guards of that State : 

1. During the existing emergency, in all cases, troops 
are to be moved in compact bodies, and under no circum- 
stances is firing to be permitted except by order of the 
officer in immediate command. 

2. All other means of quelling riot and restoring 
order having first been exhausted,- the officer command- 
ing troops shall notify rioters that they will be fired 
upon unless they disperse. The order to fire will then 
be deliberately given, and every soldier will be expected 
to fire with effect. Firing will continue until the mob 
disappears. 

3. Officers in command of troops will report to their 
headquarters the names of all citizens who have 
attempted or may attempt to dissuade members of 
the National Guard from the discharge of their duty. 
All such persons should be arrested if possible. 

4. Headquarters after two o'clock, p. m., to-day, will 
be in a special car on the Pennsylvania Railroad. All 
communications will be addressed accordingly. 

5. General officers will publish these orders, not only 
to their troops, but to the public generally. 

[Signed], J. F. Hartranft, 

Governor. 
Commander-in-Chief National Guards of Penn. 

Colonel Thomas A. Scott having been taunted for his 
failure to go to Pittsburgh to stay the strike, thereby 
preventing bloodshed and destruction, Mr. P. M. 
Arthur, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
being his tormentor, he paused in his duty of watching 



190 THE GEE AT STRIKES. 

movements on the great highway which he controls, to 
answer the innuendoes of the Locomotive Engineer, Ar- 
thur. 

He wrote from Philadelphia as follows to the New 
York Herald newspaper, on the 25th of Jul y : 

" I see an account of an interview had with P. M. Arthur, 
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, in which 
he states that ' if Thomas A. Scott had gone himself to 
Pittsburgh, bloodshed and riot would have been averted. 
Whenever the officers of a road have met the Brotherhood 
and have evinced a disposition to treat with us, we have had 
no strike ; it is only whenever they have refused to arbi- 
trate with us that we have had a strike as the only means 
of redress.' 

" In response to this permit me to say that this whole 
statement is most unfair to me and to the Company. 
The first intimation of this strike was given me after I 
had retired for the night at a point on the Delaware 
river, twenty miles from Philadelphia, and the strike 
was inaugurated without any attempt to have a confer- 
ence with the officers of the Company. So much was 
this the case that the Superintendent of the Pittsburgh 
division had started East with his family, and was on his 
way east of Altoona, when the strike took place, and the 
trains of the Company were stopped. He immediately 
came to the office in West Philadelphia about midnight, 
and there found that the Mayor of Pittsburgh and the 
Sheriff of the county were endeavoring to restore law 
and order. They had found themselves unable to do so, 
and were forced to make an appeal to the Governor for 
military aid. At all times, and under all circumstances, 
when the men in the service of our Company have come 



AFFAIRS IN PHILADELPHIA. 191 

to meet the officers of the road for conference they have 
been promptly and courteously met. 

"It is not more than a month since a large delegation 
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers had a con- 
ference with me at the office in this city, where every- 
thing pertaining to the question of reduction was fully 
discussed, the result of which was that the men, represent- 
ing, as they stated to me, the engineers and firemen, ad- 
dressed me a letter stating that the reason given for the re- 
duction, caused by the great depression of the business of 
the country, was entirely satisfactory to them, and that 
they would stand thoroughly and firmly by the Company. 
Neither this Company nor its officers are in any way re- 
sponsible for the combinations that have been made 
against the leading business interests of the country, 
which have resulted in strikes, riots and destruction to 
life and property, and the entire suspension of all the 
material interests of the country by taking possession of 
the trunk lines of railway and preventing the movement 
of persons and property. It is certainly well developed 
now that not five per cent, of the men engaged in these 
strikes and combinations have ever had anything to do 
with the railway service of this Company, including the 
members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
who will continue to stand firmly by the Company and by 
the best interests of the country, without regard to the 
influences brought to bear upon them from any source. 

" Thomas A. Scott." 



CHAPTEK XVI. 



The Strike on the Erie Railroad. 



The Strike at Hornellsville— The Road Completely Blockaded at 
at that Point — The Demand of the Strikers — Action of the Officers 
of the Road — The Situation at the Home Office, New York — Ap- 
prehensions of Further Complications. 



The strikes were extending rapidly all over the 
country. The railroads in Maryland, West Virginia, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New 
York and New Jersey were all liable to be blockaded at 
almost any moment by the action of the employes. 

The situation on the Erie road was far from reassur- 
ing as early as the 17th. The next day, the difficulty 
commenced, the firemen and brakemen of the Western 
Division of the Erie Railway decided to strike at one 
o'clock the morning of the 20th. At Hornellsville, the 
night express leaving there at midnight, was the last 
train permitted to pass. All trains, both ways, were 
stopped at Hornellsville. The train due in New York 
at eight p. m., left Buffalo, via the Rochester division, that 
morning, but went no further than Corning. A train 
was made up at Elmira to run on the regular time to 
New York. No intimation that there would be a strike 
was had until the action of the men was made known- 
Railroad communication was cut off, only telegraphic com- 
munication being had with the place up to a late hour 
Saturday. About four hundred men were in the strike. 




[OTKRS TEARING UP RAILS AT THE BRIDGE. 



THE STRIKE ON THE ERIE RAILROAD. 193 

They demanded that the pay of the firemen be increased 
to the amount received before the late reduction ; that 
brakemen and switchmen receive $2.00 and head switch- 
men $2.25 a day ; that $1.50 be the wages of yard track- 
men, and $1.40 for section trackmen ; that monthly 
passes be given firemen and brakemen, and passes be 
issued to switchmen and trackmen, and that the Company 
give a free lease of all property occupied by trackmen, 
a large majority of employes of that class being squatters 
on Erie land. These demands the Company emphatic- 
ally rejected. 

By prompt action the Erie officials struck a severe 
blow against the strikers. --As soon as the news of the 
strike was received they ordered all trains bound for 
Horn ell sville to stop. Passenger trains were sent over 
other divisions, and freight trains were held all along the 
line. This kept hundreds of men, ready to act with the 
strikers, away from Hornellsville. These men resorted 
to various means to get there, some seizing hand-cars 
and thus reaching that point. A fireman, named Pratt, 
risked his own, with the lives of hundreds of passengers 
by seizing a locomotive at Andover, twenty miles west, 
and running it in the face of advancing trains between 
that place and Scio, picking up men to run them into 
Hornellsville. The peril of the undertaking led to its 
abandonment, although Pratt was anxious to carry out 
the plan. A train arrived at ten p. m., having been stop- 
ped at Olean by the Company, thus preventing an army 
of sympathizers from joining the strikers. The train 
went no further. The train that left New York at 9:15 
Saturday, arrived at Hornellsville the same evening. 
General SuperintendentJBowen, and O. Chanute, his as- 

13 



194 THE GKEAT STRIKES. 

sistant, went up with it. Its westward passengers were 
transferred at Corning to the Rochester division. The 
train went to the yard and no attempt was made to 
move it further. The strikers were on guard in large 
force. 

J. S. Beggs, Superintendent of the Western Division, 
started for Dunkirk to proceed to Hornellsville Satur- 
day morning. At Salamanca he found the men had 
struck. They cut the locomotive loose from the train, 
but finally allowed the Superintendent to proceed. He 
was stopped again at Andover, when the train was 
boarded by a crowd of boisterous sympathizers with the 
strikers, but was permitted to go on its way after some 
delay. The Sheriff of the county, with a number of 
deputies, proceeded to Hornellsville with the intention 
of arresting the principal leaders. 

Passengers who left Buffalo Saturday evening for 
New York on the Erie, narrowly escaped detention by 
the strikers at Hornellsville. The train was within a 
few miles of that station when the conductor was notified 
by telegraph of the situation, and ordered to return to 
Attica with the train. The train was sent over the 
Attica branch to Avon and thence over the Rochester divi- 
sion to Corning where it was held until the afternoon of 
the 20th, when it started for New York to make the 
stops of local trains held at Hornellsville. General Su- 
perintendent of Transportation Wright, and Division 
Superintendent Cable, were at this time in Hornellsville. 
General Superintendent Bowen was on his way to that 
point. There were fears in Elmira that the strike would 
extend to the divisions east of that place. The demon- 
stration at Hornellsville was not crushed. Traffic was 



THE STRIKE ON THE ERIE RAILROAD. 195 

-entirely suspended west of Hornellsville, and the yards' 
■•of every station were filled with freight, stock and other 
trains. 

All passenger and freight trains on the Erie Railroad, 
-except on the Falls branch, had been abandonded. Tickets 
issued by that road were honored by the New York Cen- 
tral, and tickets issued by the Erie road over the Atlantic 
and Great Western were honored by the Lake Shore and 
Michigan Southern and the Buffalo and Jamestown road. 
Orders were sent to Buffalo to the Erie Railway ship- 
ping office to take no stock for shipment East on account 
of a railway strike in the vicinity of Hornellsville. 

It was late Thursday night when the officials of the 
Toad at the New York headquarters, received informa- 
tion that a riot was in contemplation by the firemen and 
brakemen of one of the Western divisions of the road, 
but nothing definite as to the extent of the demonstra- 
tion, or the demands of the strikers was reported, and 
business was resumed Friday morning as usual. The 
regular evening express from Buffalo, left that city at 
9:45 Thursday, and ran to Hornellsville, ninety-one 
miles distant, on regular time. Hornellsville is the point 
at which the Buffalo division ends, and the Susquehanna 
division begins, and there the engineers, firemen, and 
other train hands "lay off," and are replaced by another 
team, who take the train to the end of the division in 
Susquehanua, and are in turn relieved. The engineer 
was on hand Friday morning to take the regular train to 
Susquehanna, but the fireman and brakemen refused to 
work, and the train was kept standing on the track. The 
switchmen and trackmen joined the strike, and the busi- 
ness of the road was at a complete standstill throughout 



196 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the entire length of the division — one hundred and thirty 
miles. 

After four hours' delay the train was allowed to pass. 
The express and mail train was also stopped, but was 
held only forty minutes. The first reached New. York 
three hours, and the second seventeen minutes late. 

The express which left New York on Thursday night, 
proceeded as far as Corning, and was there tied up by 
the strikers, but the passengers were brought back to 
Elmira, and were sent over the Northern Central Road 
to Canandaigua, and thence by the New York Central to 
Buffalo. 

By the policy adopted by the strikers, trains were per- 
mitted to run both ways as far as Hornellsville, but none 
were suffered to return either way, and in the course of 
the day some seven hundred freight cars were blockaded 
there, the strikers taking out the coupling-pins and 
throwing them away, as soon as a train arrived. Two 
or three passenger trains were run into the town by order 
of the railroad officials, for the purpose of demonstrating 
the fact that they could not get through, but most of the 
passengers were sent by the Central Road, by which Erie 
through tickets were received. After the extent of the 
strike was known in the Chambers street office, in New 
York, orders were telegraphed the agents of the road to 
suspend the sale of through tickets until further notice. 

The officers of the Erie Railway, with Mr. Jewett, the 
receiver, included, appear to have made a mistake in re- 
gard to the nature of the strike at Hornellsville. They 
believed that the strike there was a part of the demon- 
stration inaugurated at Martinsburg, and continued at 
Pittsburgh. It was supposed that all three were ordered 



THE STRIKE ON THE ERIE RAILROAD. 197 

by the supreme authority in the organization of brake- 
men and firemen, to which nearly all the employes on all 
the great lines in the United States belong, and it was 
feared that the strike would spread all along the line 
from Omaha to New York, and that the Western and 
Southern roads would share the same fate. The facts 
that the Hornellsville strike was begun without due no- 
tice, that the grounds of the strike were not presented to 
the Company until late in the afternoon, and when pre- 
sented, proved to be the old issues that were settled 
three weeks before, strengthened this belief. 

In the Company's yards in Communipaw, the men pro- 
fessed entire ignorance of the affair. They declared 
that they did not know the causes which led to the 
strike, and pretended that the organization to which the 
strikers belong had no existence east of Port Jervis. 

These men were in all probability right. The officers 
were evidently wrong. If the strike at Hornellsville 
had been the part of a great movement among railroad 
men all over the country, it is not probable that the dis- 
turbance on the Erie Railroad would have been 
confined to the Western division. Simultaneously with 
the movement at Hornellsville, the firemen, brakemen, 
and switchmen at Salamanca, on the Western division, 
quit work, and when Mr. Beggs, the Superintendent of 
that division, who had started out from Dunkirk for 
Hornellsville, arrived at Salamanca, his engine was cut 
loose from the train and put into the engine-house, and 
the strikers notified him that no engine or train would 
be permitted to pass Salamanca. 

It was claimed by the officers of the Company that 
-when a committee of the train men visited New York, 



198 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

late in June, in relation to the reduction of July lst r 
they were kindly received by Receiver Jewett, and the 
necessity and propriety of the reduction explained to 
them, which, after a few days' deliberation, they appar- 
ently accepted, and the men continued at their posts,, 
with the exception of the known promoters of the dis- 
content, who were discharged. 

It was also claimed that all classes of men on the Erie 
Railway had been treated by the Company with consid- 
eration. Their pay was not only reasonable but liberal 
for the times, and if there were any employes expressing 
dissatisfaction, the receiver was ready to pay them off 
promptly and hire other men to take their places, and 
expressed his determination to carry out the order of July 
1st to the letter. 

But the strike had assumed formidable proportions. 
There can be no doubt that a riot existed at Hornellsvillej 
and that the rioters had things for a time pretty much in 
their own hands. They had assembled in force suffi- 
cient to control the railroad communications at Hornells- 
ville, and trains were not allowed to pass either east or 
west. There are two lines between Hornellsville and 
Buffalo, one, the main line, and the other a branch line 
between Hornellsville and Corning. At Corning the 
branch line connects with the Rochester and Buffalo 
division. So far the strikers had not interfered with the 
movement of trains on the branch line, but they could 
have cut off communication at any moment. Practically 
as far as the traffic on the road was considered, intercourse 
was cut off between New York City and Buffalo. Only 
a small portion of the business of the road could be con- 
ducted over the branch line in any event, and in the 



THE STRIKE ON THE ERIE RAILROAD. 199 

present case it might as well be left out of consideration 
entirely. If the strikers considered it important to do 
so, thej could undoubtedly have blockaded the trains on 
that line also. 

A Brakeman named Donahue was understood to be 
the chief instigator of the movement. Donahue was 
discharged a few weeks before from the service of the 
Company, and he had been going about secretly since to 
stir up the brakemen to make a strike. He is the 
brother of the President of the Brakeman s' Association, 
and is a man of considerable influence. By his agency 
and the assistance of his brother the strike was no doubt 
organized. It was the opinion of Receiver Jewett that 
Mr. Arthur, the President of the Engineers' Protective 
Union, had taken an influential part in organizing this 
as well as the strikes on other lines. He had not been 
in the neighborhood, but the movement had been 
probably guided to some extent by his directions. The 
engineers were not inclined to unite in the move- 
ment, at least directly. The only support they would 
give it would be by objecting to the new brakemen and 
firemen taken on in the place of the strikers, on the 
ground of inexperience, but they would not strike them- 
selves. 

Already an informal application had been made by 
the officers of this road to Governor Robinson of ~New 
York for protection. 

During the morning of the 21st an effort was made 
by the Erie officials at Hornellsville to start a train East, 
carrying a mail car. The strikers on guard would not 
permit anything to leave the }^ard but the mail car. 
They also prevented any one getting aboard but the mail 



200 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

agents and an insane woman, who was being taken to 
Elmira. Everything was quiet after that till a later hour 
in the day. Then the Pacific express, which left New 
York the previous evening, arrived with a mail car and 
a passenger car. The sleeping coaches and westward- 
bound passengers were sent over the Rochester division 
at Corning. 

The strikers took possession of the trains, the passen- 
gers had to get out, and when the baggage was unloaded 
the cars were pushed to a siding by the strikers. The 
mail car was permitted to start, the men first placing a 
fireman and brakeman of their own on the engine 
and car. An effort was made by the Company to attach 
the postal car to the passenger coaches at the lower end 
of the yard. The strikers suspected a move of this kind, 
and two hundred rushed to that part of the yard and 
took possession of the switch. The effort was thus 
defeated, and the engine and postal car were left on the 
side track. 

The Erie officials refused to recognize any of the 
committees of the men, and issued orders forbidding B. 
J. Donahue, chairman of the Brakemen, Switchman and 
Trackmen's Committees of the Buffalo, Western and Sus- 
quehanna division, and leader of the strike, from coming 
on the grounds. He established headquarters in the 
Titusville House near by, and directed the operations of 
the men. The great grievance the men complained of, 
was that the Company broke faith with them in discharg- 
ing from its employ members of the Grievance Commit- 
tees sent to New York in the matter of the reduction of 
July 1st, after agreeing not to do so if the men accepted 
the reduction. General Superintendent Bowen positively 



THE STRIKE ON THE ERIE RAILROAD. 201 

denied that there ever was such an agreement made in the 
first place, and insisted that no man had been discharged 
in consequence of his having been on a committee, the 
Company having approved of the men waiting Upon the 
manager by representatives to state any grievance they 
might have. The men discharged were dismissed for 
absenting themselves from their posts without leave, and 
for violating the discipline of the Company. Donahue 
declared that the firemen struck because thej were pledg- 
ed to the brakemen, and that the engineers were pledged 
to them, too, but did not strike. Representative engineers 
denied that their body ever made any pledges to the 
brakemen. 

The proclamation and orders of Governor Robinson, 
had called out a very large force of the New York Na- 
tional Guards. The Erie Company knew of their move- 
ments, the fact become known at Hornellsville, the after- 
noon of the 21st, that the receiver had appealed to the 
state authorities for military assistance, and the men 
held a secret meeting. They believed that no militia 
could be brought to that place, a majority of whom 
would not bean sympathy with their movement. It was 
not generally known at what time the militia ordered 
then would arrive, but the Company was kept informed 
of their progress. The Fifty-fourth Regiment New 
York State Militia, Colonel G. E. Baker commanding, 
left Rochester in the morning, and marched four hun- 
dred strong, arriving at Hornellsville during the evening. 
The approach of the train was so quiet that few of the 
strikers were at the depot, but in a brief time the yard 
was blocked with men shouting and deriding the sol- 
diers. Immediately after the arrival of the train another 



202 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

came in from Elmira with two hundred men from the 
One Hundred and Tenth Regiment, Colonel Smith com- 
manding, and Battery A of the Twentieth Brigade, Cap- 
tain Walker. Great excitement prevailed. The men 
affected to treat the matter as a joke and loudly ridiculed 
the idea of the movement being suppressed by a few 
soldiers with empty guns. The Elmira troops were 
formed in line and marched through the yard, driving 
out all with whom they came in contact. The Roches- 
ter troops were subsequently formed, and lines were 
placed all about the Company's yards. Every approach 
was guarded. No one could enter without a countersign. 
The battery of two guns was planted in Loder street, and 
commanded the yard and surroundings. The excitement 
was intense. No attempt was made by the Company to» 
move trains. 

The strikers held meetings and unanimously resolved 
to resist the Company even in the face of the bayonet. 
They were in receipt of telegrams from Elmira, Susque- 
hanna, Port Jervis, Corning and other places calling on 
them to be firm, and saying that meetings were being 
held that would result in the men in these places joining 
in the strike. The leaders in the movement threatened 
a bloody time next day. 

B. J. Donahue, the leader of the strike, warned all 
engineers against going out with trains, as they would 
go at their own peril, the track having been " fixed " by 
the strikers. In spite of the guards, the strikers had 
disabled all the switch engines in the yard. Two demon- 
strative strikers were arrested and quickly rescued by 
their friends. There was great familiarity between the 
militia and the strikers. General BrinkerhofI and W.W. 



THE STRIKE ON THE ERIE RAILROAD. 20$ 

MacFarland, counsel of the Erie, arrived from New 
York in a special train. They held a consulation with 
D. C. Robinson, the Governor's Private Secretary, to 
which they were escorted by a guard of soldiers. 

All was quiet at Port Jervis. There was considerable 
excitement among the employes of the Erie road, but 
nothing to indicate that a strike would occur on the 
Eastern or Delaware division. All trains on these divi- 
sions were moving regularly, no stoppages occuring on 
that side of Hornellsville. 

A second special train, in charge of General Wylie, 
with ammuniton and camp equipage arrived before 
morning. 

Three reasons existed why Hornellsville should have 
been selected as the scene of the origin of the strike: 
First, it is the most important junction on the road ; 
second, it is far from the large cities where unemployed 
labor is plenty and the municipal authorities are strongs 
and third, it is filled with bad and dangerous men. It 
is purely a railroad town, although it contains some 
seven thousand inhabitants, and a considerable amount 
of business is done there. It is the termini of three 
divisions of the road — the Susquehanna, Buffalo and 
Western — and consequently there have congregated and 
settled there a large number of the worst class of men, 
those who have been employed on railroads — chiefly the 
Erie — in various capacities, and discharged for many 
causes. They comprised the best possible material for 
strikes, riots and violence of all kinds, partly because of 
their natural predilection to disorder, partly from 
motives of revenge for their dismissal, and partly to get 
the men employed discharged, so as to make room for 



204 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

themselves, the Company had evidence that some men, 
not connected with the road, were secretly inciting train- 
hands to strike in the expectation that the Company 
would he forced to reinstate them in the positions from 
which they were formerly dismissed. 

But two cases of violence on the road had yet occured. 
Borne Buffalo fireman stole a locomotive and ran out to 
the junction of the Falls branch at East Buffalo, with the 
intention of blockading the trains arriving from Utica, 
but a squad of police was sent out from Buffalo and the 
firemen were quickly dispersed. The other case occurred 
at Horn ell sville, where General Superintendent Bo wen 
made a personal attempt to take out a mail train, but 
"was stopped by the strikers. 



CHAPTER XYII 



Reckless Slaughter at Reading. 



The Fourth Pennsylvania Militia at Reading — General Frank Reeder 
Undertakes to Restore Order — Bold Rioters Tantalize the Citizen 
Soldiery — Without Orders They Fire into a Crowd of Peaceable 
Citizens — Thirteen Killed and Twenty-seven Wounded — Not a. 
Rioter Hurt — A Boy Horribly Mangled — Five Police Officers 
Victims of the Bullets — A Lady Shot While Engaged at Her 
Sewing Machine — Terrible Anger of the Citizens and Rioters — 
Threats of the Mob — General Reeder's Sworn Statement. 



Baltimore and Pittsburgh had not been forgotten. 
The great strikes continued. There was still in the 
minds of men disquieting thoughts. When would the 
troubles end ? How would the difficulty conclude X 
What was to be the result of all the turmoil, the bitterness, 
the hate aroused ? These were questions present in the 
minds of men, and for them there were no answers. 
Nearly a hundred lives had already been extinguished,, 
five times a hundred human beings had been maimed 
and mangled since the strikes began. Property worth 
millions of dollars had vanished amid smoke and 
flames. The country was in a feverish state of ex- 
citement from Boston to San Francisco ; from the Lakes 
to the Gulf. Men lived, thought, and acted more in a 
day, than they ordinarily do in a week. Since the first 
European landed on the shores of America, no such 
scenes as those transpiring had ever before arrested the 
attention of the whole people of the country. It was a 



206 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

time of fear and anxiety. Who would be the next 
victim, what city next be given over to devouring flames, 
and the rapacity of a lawless mob ? Who could tell ? 

It was on the 23d day of July, 1877 — just seven days 
after the commencement of the first strike on the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad, at South Baltimore and Mar- 
tin sburg. Already momentous events had happened. 
Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Cumberland had successively 
attracted the attention of those who cared to observe the 
course of the remarkable movement among the working 
classes. Hornellsville, Harrisburgh, Philhpsburg, and 
Buffalo had been the scene of actions, startling in their 
nature. Where would the next center of interest be 
located ? It was not necessary to wait long for an an- 
swer to this question. For some days there had been 
trouble on the Philadelphia and Beading Railroad, and 
among the miners in that vicinity. Reading was favor- 
ably situated to become the central point of the move- 
ment in that region. 

At this time Pennsylvania was in arms, from the Del- 
aware to the Monongehela. There were many militia 
officers who were anxious to immortalize themselves by 
the performance of some heroic action. The Knight 
of La Mancha has imitators in this age, and in this land. 
Up to the 22nd, no trouble had occurred at Reading. 
There were some men on a strike, and trains had been 
stopped, but the crowds that gathered about the stations, 
were citizens drawn to those places to satisfy an idle 
curiosity. 

But the scene was destined to change. There was in 
that division of Pennsylvania a notable military com- 
mander, Major-General William J. Bolton, who com- 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 207 

manded the Second Division of the National Guards of 
Pennsylvania. To this puissant warrior the railroad 
authorities appealed, and he sent one of his trusted Lieu- 
tenants, Brigadier-General Frank Reeder, to Beading, 
with the Fourth and Sixteenth Regiments. These war- 
riors, even, according to the sworn statement of their 
commander, succeeded in making for themselves an 
odious record ere they left Reading — at least, may this 
be said of the Fourth Regiment, and particularly of the 
•" Easton Greys." Reading mourns the folly of the 
militia yet. 

On account of the unmilitary conduct of some com- 
panies of General Reeder- s regiment, we are compelled 
to add another story of slaughter to the bloody records 
of Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Without one word of 
warning, these militia fired upon an assembled crowd of 
oitizens, in the very heart of the city of Reading, and 
killed thirteen people, shot five policemen, and altogether 
severely wounded twenty-seven persons. 

Night had just settled upon the city, and North 
Seventh street, for two squares, was lined with people, 
sitting in the enjoyment of the cool air of evening, in 
front of their homes. The main line of the Philadelphia 
and Reading Railroad Company's road passes through 
the city on Seventh street. Penn street is the main thor- 
oughfare, running in an opposite direction from the 
course of the railroad, and crosses Seventh street at right 
angles. From Penn street northward for two squares, 
two lines of track are laid, leading to the new depot. 
These are laid through a deep cut, with a heavy stone 
wall, twenty feet high on either side. On this section 
of track the bloody work was done. At ten minutes 



208 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

after eight o'clock the military marched in toward Penn 
street, through the cut, from the depot. They were 
about three hundred and fifty strong, and they marched, 
to the tap of a few drams that could not be heard a 
square away. Few people were aware of their arrival 
in the city, and fewer still knew they were advancing 
upon the crowd. 

Steadily they approached, when suddenly three hun- 
dred rifles were discharged in volleys, and five men 
dropped to the pavements. The report that the troops 
had shot blank cartridges, of course, was incorrect. 
When the troops fired their first volleys, they were given 
broadsides of rocks and stones from the tops of the walls. 
Quite a number of revolver shots were returned by par- 
ties in the crowd. The troops continued their firing, and 
men, women and children fled in fear. They had assem- 
bled on Seventh street to look at the train that had been 
stopped, and they were recklessly and indiscriminately 
shot by the militia. The citizens were almost universal in 
their condemnation of these proceedings. In five minutes 
the streets were cleared, stores were closed, and hotels and 
restaurants were locked up. Business had been proceeding 
as usual, and just before the firing, not a single merchant,, 
or business man was aware of the coining of the mili- 
tary. The streets resembled a small battle field, and the 
pavements were stained with many pools of blood. It 
was absolutely dangerous for men to come from the 
alleyways and from behind the brick walls, to go to the 
assistance of the dying. The heroic militia stood to 
their guns, and were valiantly disposed to shoot down 
any citizen who might cross the line of their vision. 
Finally the sufferers, groaning and shrieking for water, 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 200 

were carried to the drug stores to have their wounds 
dressed. 

Amoug the policemen who were on duty at Seventh 
and Penn streets, keeping the pavraents and sidewalks 
clear, five were shot down, as follows : Officer Abner 
Jones, shot through the back, the ball penetrating 
through his body ; officer Ludwig Rupp, shot twice 
through the right leg ; officer Orden Weller, shot in the 
leg ; officer Hart, shot through the thigh ; officer Hag- 
gerty, shot through the ankle. 

These policemen were shot with rifle balls. They re- 
ceived no word, of whatever kind, warning them of what 
was to happen. Officer Rupp, one of the best men in 
the force, was dangerously hurt and died of his wounds 
two days afterwards. The officers had their wounds 
dressed at the drug stores and were taken home. 

Chief of Police, Peter Cullen, who was on duty near 
Seventh and Penn streets, had a rifle ball penetrate his 
coat, and officer Werdner also had his coat ripped with 
a ball. 

Officer Culp narrowly escaped death, a minnie ball 
whistling past his head, just grazing his ear. 

But two of the military were badly hurt, so far as 
was reported. 

Private Stienberger, of the Allen Rifles, of Allentown, 
was shot in the left side of the neck. 

Private Slatington, of Company F, was struck in the 
abdomen by a brick or rock. Both of these men were 
conveyed to one of the rear apartments of the Mansion 
House, where their wounds were attended to. 

Several more of the military were struck with stones, 
but not seriously hurt. After the firing was over the 

14 



210 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

soldiers formed along Penn street, with their left rest- 
ing on Seventh, and subsequently they marched to Penn 
Square, and from there proceeded to the depot of 
the Philadelphia and Heading Railroad Company,, 
which was strongly garrisoned. That evening a large 
number of special police was sworn in and ordered on 
duty, armed with seven-shooters, and the depot was 
transformed into a military post. Pickets were out and 
sentinels were guarding all the train galleries and en- 
trances. On their march through the streets the militia 
were followed but by few persons, who jeered and 
shouted in an unpleasant manner. 

That night the railroadmen, who were at war with the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, were en- 
gaged in taking counsel as to future movements. Mean- 
while all the tramps from a wide range of country had 
come into the city on the first intimation of trouble. 
On the night of the 24th, it is supposed they burned 
down the Lebanon Yalley Bridge, which spanned the 
Schuylkill at Reading, and which was built at a cost of 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Reading's direct 
railway communication with Harrisburg and the West 
was thus cut off, freight cars were burned and tracks in- 
terfered with. The 24th of July was one of the most 
trying periods known in the annals of railroading in 
Pennsylvania. All day long Reading was in a state of 
wild riot and disorder. 

There were three alarms the night after the fight, 
and each time the Fourth Regiment formed under arms. 
The rioters contented themselves with tearing up part of 
the track below Penn street, cutting down a long line of 
railroad telegraph poles, and robbing freight cars. Six 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 211 

men, identified as rioters, got into the depot. They 
were put under arrest ; three of them were storekeepers 
in Reading. All were heavily armed and very audacious. 

Before daylight on the morning of the 23d, a locomo- 
tive glided into the depot at Reading. She brought 
from Auburn six thousand rounds of ball cartridges. 
At six o'clock in the morning, five companies of the 
Sixteenth Regiment arrived at the break in the track 
below the city and were marched up to the depot. 
They were under Colonel Scholl. These militia-men de- 
clared they would not fire on the rioters, and the crowd 
•cheered them. Some of these men said, " We will not 
shoot working-men, whatever the Easton Greys may do." 
They are our brothers, and the only one we'd like to pour 
our bullets into is that damned Frank B. Gowen." Mr. 
Gowen is Superintendent of the Philadelphia and Read- 
ing Railroad. The officers denied that their men used this 
language, but hundreds of persons in the crowds heard 
the expressions. At eight o'clock a number of police who 
had been wounded were started on a slow local train to 
get to Allentown and Easton. Some were very seriously 
hurt, one mortally. 

At half -past eight, the two regiments, inarching by the 
flank, with General Reeder at their head, started out of 
the depot and towards the cut. where the conflict of the 
preceding night took place. The Sixteenth Regiment 
had the right, and as it was recognized, the crowd 
cheered it, when the Easton Greys and other companies 
of the Fourth Regiment came along the air was rent 
with yells of " Give 'em hell," " Go for 'em," etc. Instead 
of repeating the last night's error in going down the cut 
they marched in the streets, above and along side it, a 



212 THE GKEAT STRIKES. 

movement which disconcerted the riotous crowd, never- 
theless a brisk flight of stones Avas kept up by the mob 
upon the Fourth Regiment. The Easton Greys suffered 
most, having Sergeant Hanmann, Corporal Perdoe ? 
Privates Mack and Yail severely wounded. Young 
Surtz, of Easton, was sun- struck and came near dying. 
No member of the Sixteenth Regiment was hurt. It 
was expected the soldiers would cover the restoration of 
the track by a working party, but after they had reached 
the ground the workers did not appear. After waiting 
half an hour, they marched through Penn and Fifth 
streets back to the depot. Men could not be found to do^ 
the dangerous work proposed. From the mob following 
the soldiers came a deafening storm of curses, threats, 
and insults hurled at the Easton Greys. Many men 
carried great stones and bricks wishing to throw them r 
yet fearing to get close enough. They regretted loudly 
tli at the soldiers had not come down the track again in the 
cut, so they might have been stoned from the ramparts- 
twenty feet above. In the cut one could see the ground 
covered with stones, fragments of iron, and bricks, 
hurled down the previous evening. As the troops 
marched along a volley of stones from the windows on 
the route fell upon them. From time to time, sudden 
fear of retaliation seized the mob, and wheeling they 
dashed into open doors. Finding the soldiers didnotnre y 
their assailants grew bolder, and there was £ood reason 
to belive that if the return march had not been made 
when it was, another combat must have taken place. 

The rioters openly threatened to burn tbe railroad 
property, notwithstanding the presence in the city of 
nearly one thousand soldiers. They also threatened to 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 213 

massacre the Easton Greys. The animosity against that 
^company was greatest because the volley of the Greys 
did more deadly execution the previous evening, than 
all the regular firing of the other companies. 

The terrible effects of the fusilades was now made 
apparent, thirteen killed and thirty-seven wounded was 
the result. The corpse of a boy was found during the 
•morning, with the abdomen shot wide open. A woman 
was shot at her sewing machine, but not seriously hurt. 
A German came about the depot crying for vengeance, 
because, he said, his wife had been killed by the soldiers. 

The town was full of excitement. The rioters con- 
gregated in masses on the street corners, but the excess- 
ive heat of the day seemed to prevent overt acts. 

The five companies of the Sixteenth Regiment at Read- 
ing were almost all Irishmen. They slipped away from 
the depot into the town singly and by twos and threes, 
and gave their ammunition to the rioters, by whom they 
were everywhere hailed as brethren, and with whom 
.they engaged in drinking. They were repeatedly heard 
to swear that not only would they not fire upon the mob 
in any event, but that if the Easton Greys did so they 
'would fire upon them, and help the rioters to clean them 
out and burn the railroad property. The rioters were 
greatly encouraged. The Fourth Regiment, feeling itself 
in momentary danger of betrayal, and of being put be- 
tween two fires, wanted to go home. 

General Frank Reeder telegraphed all the time, and 
shrouded himself in mystery. He did not care to show 
himself to the people of Reading. 

Meanwhile the most unsoldierly lack of discipline pre- 
vailed among the military. There were sentries at each 



214 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

entrance to the depot, yet the platforms were crowded 
with persons who openly avowed their fixed purpose to 
rout the militia and burn the property of the Railroad 
Company. They expressed a determination to kill some 
of the companies of the Fourth Regiment. 

The presence of the military did not curb the spirit of 
the rioters. On the contrary they grew bolder and more 
threatening. For some days after the fight open attacks 
on the trains were made. 

The strikers mounted a passing loaded coal train, put 
on the brakes, stopped the train and pushed back the 
caboose and several loaded cars, thus virtually blockad- 
ing the down track. One of the eight-ton cars was 
dumped on the rails. At ten minutes after four o'clock, 
July 25th, the down express train came along slowly on 
the other track. The strikers were led by a large man 
wearing a dark shirt and dark pants. His hair looked 
as if it had been recently shaved from his head. 

Fully two hundred strikers would rush right up 
squarely to the front of. the approaching locomotive, 
wave their hands, shake their clenched fists, and by many 
devices intimidate and threaten the engine driver and 
train employes. An up freight train was compelled to 
go back, and the crew made to desert the cars. At one 
time it was feared they would run the engine into the 
river below the city. The up passenger and express 
train came through the city at a fearful speed, with the 
engine whistling lustily. As she sped through the 
crowd, Engineer Saracool bent low in his cab and gave 
the engine full stroke, in order to successfully pass the 
enraged men. 

The freight up from Philadelphia and the market trail* 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 215 

were compelled to halt and go no further. At this 
point the passenger train down, was stopped in the cut, 
where the fighting took place. The crew were compelled 
to desert and the passengers were obliged to leave. 
These high handed proceedings continued until about 
seven o'clock, when nearly all the strikers left the 
ground for parts unknown. Not one of the rioters was 
either killed or wounded. 

The majority, in fact all the unfortunates, were law- 
abiding, peaceable citizens, who had assembled at Seventh 
and Penn streets simply to gratify their curiosity. 

A large body of Coal and Iron Police, from the coal 
regions, were quartered at the Company's mammoth car 
shops, which works the strikers threatened to burn. A 
large crowd of the friends of the railroad men procured 
about fifty muskets for the strikers, and there was immi- 
nent danger of a desperate conflict. 

The military companies engaged in the fight were the 
Hamburg Rifles, Slatington Pines, Allentown Continen- 
tals, Company I, infantry, of Catasqua, Easton Greys, 
and a company from Portland, Northampton county. 
They arrived at eight o'clock in the evening. A number 
of the military, after their bloody work was done, threw 
down their arms, and asked for citizens' clothes. 

At a quarter after eleven o'clock, the night of the 25th, 
the strikers had torn down the watch boxes at the street 
corners, and proceeded down the road to tear up the 
tracks. They signalized their departure by a perfect 
hurricane of yells and cheering, as they proceeded in 
their onward march of ruin and destruction. The city 
had become turbulent again, and the outlook indicated 
desperate work. The cry among the men was, " Wages 
and revenge." 



— 



216 THE GKEA.T STRIKES. 

The Sheriff issued his proclamation, and Mayor Evans 
returned home from Ocean Grove, on a special train, in 
answer to an urgent telegram. Town meetings were held 
to take steps to prevent any repetition of the dark deeds 
which had cast a gloom over the whole community at 
Heading. 

Before the militia were withdrawn from Reading, 
there was a narrow escape from a bloody scene. It was 
the night after the horrible fusilades. Large crowds had 
gathered at the scene of that conflict, and about the 
same time several companies of the Fourth Regiment 
marched down Seventh to Penn street. Here they met 
a company of the Sixteenth Regiment, and a fight be- 
tween the military seemed imminent. The crowd treated 
the Easton Greys to a shower of stones. This company 
immediately levelled their pieces, when they were noti- 
fied by Colonel Scholl of the Sixteenth Regiment that no 
indiscriminate slaughter would be permitted. All the 
troops then passed down Penn and out Fifth street, fol- 
lowed by the mob, who fairly threw insults in the teeth 
of the soldiery. 

The Morristown company of the Sixteenth Regiment 
subsequently stacked their arms, and refused absolutely 
to operate against the rioters. Some of them threw 
their guns away, and distributed the cartridges among 
the crowd. The company left for home shortly after- 
wards, as did all the militia engaged in the firing on the 
citizens. Mayor Evans issued a proclamation, calling for 
one thousand volunteers to do patrol duty in the city, 
until quiet and order was restored. A special force of 
policemen were sworn in, and other measures taken to 
preserve order in the city. 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 217 

On the day after the fight, Coroner Goodhart, of Read- 
ing, summoned a jury of inquest, and proceeded to in- 
vestigate the circumstances attending the shooting of 
peaceable, unarmed citizens. A summons was issued for 
General Frank Reeder, who had disappeared from Read- 
ing, in obedience to orders, and had established his head- 
quarters at Allen town, to which place the Coroner sent 
a notification to him. On the 30th, seven days after the 
fusilades, General Reeder submitted the following sworn 
statement, in relation to the affair : 

Headquarters Fifth Brigade, ) 

Second Division, N. G. P., > 

Allentown, Pa., July 30. ) 

Geo. S. Goodhart, Reading, Pa. 

Dear Sir : Your notification, dated July 27, covering 
-certain inquiries to which you desire replies, was duly 
received by me. While I do not for one moment con- 
eede your right to demand such replies from me at this 
time, while I know perfectly well that my official report 
of the occurrences at Reading, on the 23d inst., to my 
superior officers, is the only account which I can at this 
time be required to make. I am, nevertheless, quite 
willing to furnish you with whatever information is in 
my possession ; calculated to throw light upon the sub- 
ject matter now under official investigation by you. To 
that end I reply categorically to your questions, as fol- 
lows : 

Q. Who ordered your command to this place ? A. I 
was ordered to Reading with the Fourth Regiment of 
my brigade, by Major -General William J. Bolton, com- 



218 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

manding Second Division, National Guards of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Q. Who gave you orders to march through the cut to 
Seventh and Penn streets ? A. I received no orders to 
march through the cut, but I was requested to march 
into the cut to liberate a train in the possession of 
the rioters, by an official of the Reading Railroad Com- 
pany. 

Q. Who ordered you to fire upon the crowd ? A. No 
person ordered me to tire, neither did I fire, nor direct 
any other person to fire upon the crowd. 

Q. Which of the companies discharged their guns, and 
how often ? A. All the companies did firing, but no 
living creature can give the further information desired. 

Q. Did you acquaint the High Sheriff of this county 
with your coming and presence in the city ? If not, 
why not ? A. I did not ; it was not my duty to acquaint 
him with my coming, and it was while I was proceeding 
in the direction of the High Sheriff's house that my 
command was attacked by the mob ; upon receiving or- 
ders to repair to Reading, I took cars with my command 
at Allen town, and proceeded without incident to Temple, 
where the train was boarded by Messrs. Eltz and Paxon, 
Railroad officials; these gentlemen informed me that 
the Reading depot was in possession of a rnob, number- 
ing from two to three thousand ; I desired them to stop 
the train just outside of sight of the depot, which being 
done, I disembarked the troops, and, having formed, we 
marched to the depot, finding it in the hands and under 
the protection of the Coal and Iron Police ; I was then 
requested to release a train from the hands of the strikers,, 
and was informed that this cut was the direct road to the 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 219* 

Penn street crossing, which it was necessary to clear to 
permit the running of trains. I moved my command in 
the direction of the cut, but before reaching it we were 
met by a large body of men, whose violent gestures,, 
coarse insults, unspoken threats, and general bearing, 
suggested the idea of halting the regiment, loading the 
pieces, and moving the musicians to the rear. Before 
entering the cut we were saluted by the crowd with a 
volley of stones and some pistol shots. We moved down 
the cut, stoned, at every step, by a yelling mob, without 
firing a shot, or speaking a word in reply to the shouts 
which almost deafened us, until we reached the second 
bridge. During this march I, seconded by all the other 
officers of the command, constanthv cautioned the men 
not to fire, not withstanding the fact that every step was 
being marked by the blood of the men, and that many 
of the troops had been knocked down by the flying 
stones. Near the second bridge a single shot, fired 
without orders, was the signal for a dropping fire, which, 
while doing little or no damage to the mob of rioters, 
served to check the fast-falling shower of stones. Press- 
ing on, the command reached Penn street, and was con- 
fronted by a large crowd of persons, who met us by 
hurling stones and firing pistols at the regiment, which 
was only stopped by what I have since learned was a 
very effective volley, which entirely dispersed them. 
Not a single shot was fired by us on Penn street, either 
up or down, nor was there a single shot fired after the 
last halt was made by us on Seventh street. Of all the 
five cart-loads of stones, which I heard next day were 
collected in the cut, very few were thrown after the 
first shot was fired. Most of the stones were of 



220 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

such size and weight that it is almost certain strong arms 
were employed in the work ; upon reaching Penn Square, 
I inquired for the Mayor, and was told he was at the sea- 
shore ; I also inquired for the High Sheriff, but could 
learn no tidings of his whereabouts; I thereupon re- 
turned to the depot, which I had been asked to protect 
from the mob. Later in the night, the Mayor having 
returned to the city, I was requested by him to send a 
company of troops into the cut to drive off the mob, 
then alleged to be engaged in tearing up the railroad 
track. This I declined to do, principally because I was 
short of ammunition, having had but fifteen hundred 
rounds. 

I am led. to supplement this narrative with a word or 
two in defense of the military propriety of moving into 
the cut by the strictures which your District Attorney 
and one of your daily papers have been pleased to make 
upon me for having selected that route for my advance 
into the town. Raw recruits run greater risks from 
having their formation destroyed and the confusion inci- 
dent upon broken alignments than from any other cause, 
had the mob succeeded in breaking its formation, the 
Fourth Regiment might itself have degenerated into a 
mob, and would have been completely at the mercy of 
the rioters. This might have been accomplished had we 
been on a wide street where the mob could press upon 
our flanks, but in the cut it was impossible, as our flanks 
were clear, our formation was preserved and the men 
had room to use their rifles with reasonable effect, and 
we emerged from the cut without the loss of a single 
soldier. I think I can safely rely upon the result of 



RECKLESS SLAUGHTER AT READING. 221 

the battle with the mob as the most unanswerable argu- 
ment against the theory of a military blunder. 

In accordance with your request I send this letter as a 
sworn statement. 

(Signed) Frank Reeder, 

Brigadier-GeneraL 

The admission of General Frank Reeder in the re- 
markable statement given above, is sufficient evidence 
that the destruction of life at Reading was a reckless 
and wanton sacrifice. Even admitting that his men had 
been badly treated by a mob of roughs, that they had 
suffered from the vigorous- attack of a mass of men 
armed with stones and pieces of iron, and other missiles,. 
the fact that not a single rioter was either killed or 
wounded, goes far to reflect upon the indiscretion of the 
soldiers, in firing into a company of innocent people, for 
it shows, what was true, that the mob of rioters, who had 
stoned the marching militia in the railway cut, had 
already vanished. The feeling against the Fourth Regi- 
ment both among law abididing citizens and the rioters, 
was intensely bitter. The result of the Coroner's inquiry 
into the circumstances served to increase the animosity, 
and there is no doubt that at one time the members of 
the t Easton Greys were in actual danger of being mas- 
sacred in a mass by the enraged populace. Some of them 
obtained citizens clothes, disposed of their guns and 
accoutrements in some manner, and quietly stole away. 

The Fourth Regiment received orders to depart from 
Reading with lively satisfaction. The Sixteenth Regi- 
ment was composed of workingmen, and sympathized 
with the strikers, and for that reason were withdrawn 



222 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

A detachment of United States regulars subsequently 
came to Reading, but their services were not called into 
requisition. They did not fire on crowds of citizens 
because of " unspoken threats," hence there was no fur- 
ther trouble. Then the Mayor and Sheriff undertook to 
restore and preserve order, and they accomplished it. In 
a few days Reading had become the same quiet, plodding 
town it had been before. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 



Jersey Trainmen. 



Threatened Riot at Phillipsburg — The Trainmen's Strike — Intense 
Excitement at Trenton — Governor Bedle Takes Decisive Action — 
Disagreeable Demonstrations at Jersey City — Militia at Hoboken — 
Governor Bedle Goes to Newark ^.nd Jersey City — Guarding a 
Bridge at Brunswick — Soldiers Sympathizing with Strikers — The 
Jersey Central Railway — Relieved Soldiers Rejoicing. 



On "Wednesday, July 23d, 1877, the Mayor of Phil- 
lipsburg, New Jersey, issued his proclamation calling 
upon persons " to desist from making threats against or 
intimidating snch persons as desired to follow their usual 
avocations," and warning all good citizens from gather- 
ing on streets, and asking them to aid him in preserving 
the peace of the town, and notifying all strangers bear- 
ing unmistakable evidence of idle wanderers, that they 
would be arrested by officers on duty. 

The firemen and brakemen of the Central Railroad of 
New Jersey joined in a strike on the 23d of July, and 
would allow no train, except a locomotive with a mail car 
attached, to pass over the road. Deputy-Sheriff Shaffer 
and Dispatcher Harris endeavored to start a passenger 
train for New York from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, but 
were unsuccessful, as no engineer could be found who 
would risk his life to run it, and in consequence no train 
started until evening. The railroad men were consider- 
ably surprised when they saw the train, consisting of 



224 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

two baggage and one passenger car, and censured the 
men at the other end of the road for allowing it to 
start. 

The Deputy-Sheriff had a conference with the leaders 
of the strike. He told them that the laws of the State 
would be enforced at any hazard, and advised them to 
go to their homes and remain quiet, assuring them that 
their rights, as well as those of the Company, would be 
protected. He proposed to start all trains on time, and, 
if the strikers did not interfere all would be well ; but 
if they molested the men who run the trains they must 
expect the consequence. One of the leaders replied 
that they were willing that a locomotive and mail car 
should run, but they would not allow any other cars to be 
attached, and then the mail agent must do the braking.. 
The strikers seemed determined that no trouble should 
arise from any fault of theirs, and requested the Chief 
of Police to arrest all tramps found around the road. 

The engineers drove away about twenty tramps from 
the Morris and Essex roundhouse. 

The firemen and brakemen of the Lehigh and Susque- 
hanna road struck in the morning of the same day, and 
no train was allowed to leave Easton. The men on 
that road were very orderly. 

K. H. Sayre, of the Lehigh Valley Eailroad, issued 
orders that in case there should be a strike on that road, 
all of the shops should be shut down, and not started again 
until the difficulty was settled. 

A mail car attached to a locomotive left Phillipsburg 
in the morning. All trains arriving at New York over 
the Central Railroad of New Jersey, consisted of a bag- 
gage car and locomotive; the passenger cars were 




ftffi 



JERSEY TRAINMEN. 225 

brought to Bloomsburg and left there. The mail train 
over the Morris and Essex Railroad for New York run 
on time. When the train was about to leave Phillips- 
burg, on its return, the fireman left the engine and re 
fused to fire up, when the chairman of the strikers 
ordered him to resume his post and take the cars left at 
Bloomsburg to the Washington side where they would 
be in no danger, as it was not the wish of the strikers to 
have any damage done to the Company's property. 

The proprietors of the Warren Foundery, at Phillips- 
burg, were compelled to shut down the 26th, as they 
could not ship their pipe, and had no place to store it. 
This threw over three hundred men out. The Company 
had a very large contract on hand, and the strike proved 
a great damage to them. 

A large number of boatmen and tramps were in Phil- 
lipsburg and it was feared they would endeavor to incite 
a riot. 

On the morning of July 24th, Jersey City presented 
an exciting scene, as laboring men were on their way to 
work, little knots of men were gathered on every corner 
of the principal streets exchanging speculations as to 
the cause of the sudden advent of the military. They 
had been summoned on Saturday to be at their armories 
in the evening, but they did not appear in their uniform 
then, as on Sunday. Monday morning they were in 
squads here and there, in search of absentees. One 
squad stood at each ferry to detain such members as r 
through not being notified of the latest order from 
headquarters, or from whatever reason, sought to cross 
to New York. Inquiry at the regimental armory 
revealed the fact that Governor Bedle, who had spent 

15 



226 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Sunday at Long Branch, had issued an order, by tele- 
graph, at midnight, to the commandants of all the regi- 
ments to collect their men at the armories, and uniform, 
arm and equip them. The regiments which had already 
been ordered to hold themselves in readiness, were under 
arms all over the State by daylight Monday morning. 

Brigadier-General Plume, of Newark, arrived to as- 
sume command, and Surgeon-General Varick, of Jersey 
City, and Inspector-General Fay, of Elizabeth, were 
soon in attendance. Lieutenant-Colonel Marvin, Major 
Howard, Brigade-Surgeon Hitchcock, and Captains 
Meeker and Ward well, all of Newark, and of General 
Plume's staff, accompanied him. Of Governor Bedle's 
staff, Messrs. Charles S. Gregory, W. H. Vredenburg, 
A. Q. Garretson, William Douglas and John Kamsey, 
were in attendance during the entire day. Upon Gov- 
ernor Bedle's arrival it was learned that his order was 
based on a despatch that he had received from Philadel- 
phia, to the effect that the Pennsylvania Company's build- 
ings there were in the hands of the mob, and another from 
Major-General Mott, in Trenton, saying that trouble 
was anticipated there. 

Governor Bedle established his headquarters in the 
apartments of the Chief of Police, Jersey City, Tues- 
day morning, and assumed the duties of Commander-in- 
Chief in fact. At Elizabeth and elsewhere, regiments 
had not a round of ammunition, but it was ordered on 
from Trenton at once. Lieutenant Ellis' Battery, in 
Jersey City, was ordered to be in readiness, but they 
had only one gun ; the Hoboken Battery was in the 
same condition. The Battery at Guttenburg had two, 
and one was ordered from there to each of those cities. 



JERSEY TRAINMEN. 227 

The first detachment of several batteries of United 
States Regular Artillery, ordered to Philadelphia to 
protect Government property, crossed from Fort Hamil- 
ton to Jersey City, and marched up several squares 
through Montgomery street, before they turned towards 
the depot, where the cars lay, near Washington street. At 
this point an ugly crowd had gathered. It was noticed 
throughout the day that there were a good many strangers 
in Jersey City, mysterious men, who assembled in little 
knots and talked together, or drew near to any collection 
of people seen in conversation, as though feeling the pulse 
of the public. The soldiers were jeered and threatened as 
they passed. About this time a conductor, named 
Wright, sauntered along the track, when the following 
colloquy occured between him and one of the crowd: 
"Are you going to take the train out with these sogers ? " 
"1 guess so." "Well, then, by God! you won't go 
above Grove street." And the speaker turned away 
and Wright went on towards his train. Another man 
called after him : " Say, young fellow, don't make no 
mistake. If you have any regard for yourself you 
won't give nobody any chance to lay you out." Jack 
Wildey, the engineer of the same train, was standing at 
the Glayne street crossing a few minutes later, when he 
was accosted by another man, and asked : " Are you the 
engineer of this train, taking out the sogers ?" He said 
"Yes." " If you attempt to take that train out we'll 
kill you before you go six blocks." Superintendent 
Barker walked along just then, and found that both con- 
ductor and engineer were so badly alarmed that they 
refused to take the train out. Warren Hawk, con- 
ductor of another train, consented to go if his engineer, 



^■1 



228 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

McMichael, would go, although he felt sick. The en- 
gineer said that he would not take out the train. Mr. 
Barker asked him whether he would take it out, pro- 
vided the militia dispersed the crowd. He replied that 
he would. 

Mr. Barker laid the facts before Governor Bedle, who 
thought that it would needlessly excite the people to call 
out the militia, and that it would be best to send a police 
force. A strong reserve had been called out early in the 
morning, and fifty of them, under Captain Mullany, 
were sent to the scene of disturbance. They took pos- 
session of the crossings and kept back the crowd. The 
engineer then consented to start, and the artillerymen, 
including another detachment of about equal numbers, 
armed with muskets, about one hundred and fifty in all, 
got away about six o'clock. Other detachments arrived 
from Fort Adams, Boston, and departed later.. 
Altogether, about eight hundred went by the Pennsyl- 
sylvania Railroad for Philadelphia. ) 

About two hundred and fifty men of the Ninth 
Regiment were encamped on Elysian Fields, Hoboken, 
to hold themselves in readiness to protect the Morris 
and Essex, or the Erie Railroads. Nearly one hundred 
extra watchmen were guarding the property of the 
Eastern Division of the Erie Railroad. 

No indication of trouble on the New Jersey Southern 
Railroad were reported during the strike. There nad been 
no cutting down of wages since last winter. The pay of 
some of the men had been increased. 

George Doremus, conductor of the Midland Railroad, 
while going home with his cash box was attacked by 
four men, one of whom struck him on the head with a 



JERSEY TRAINMEN. 229 

piece of lead pipe. His wounds were considered serious. 
His assailants escaped without any plunder. 

Hundreds of men lounged about the Newark depots all 
day the 23d. General Plume received an order from 
Governor Bedle to hold the First and Fifth Regiments 
in readiness to move. At noon six hundred men were 
assembled at the armory, under command of Colonels 
Barnard and Allen, and rations were dealt out. Several 
of the men declared that they would throw down their 
guns rather than shoot at the strikers. The entire police 
force, with the exception of the men on patrol, was held in 
reserve. The police were ordered to take all of the guns 
in the gun shops to the police stations. They were in 
full sympathy with the railroadmen, and openly said 
they would not fire upon any strikers. The passenger 
trains ran on time all day ; but few freight trains passed. 
The brakemen and firemen sneered at and guyed the 
soldiers when passing the armory. The employes at 
the depot feared to say anything, but they were in sym- 
pathy with the strikers on the other railroads. The 
miners at Dover were ready to help the railroadmen. 

The publication of a call for a mass meeting of citizens 
at Turn Hall, Newark, Tuesday evening, excited a tumult- 
uous feeling, and hundreds of men gathered on street 
corners and talked over the situation. It was signed by 
the United Workino-men's Partv and the Communist 
Committees. Many of them were in the Paris Commune. 
The societies there number nearly eighteen hundred men. 
The call had aroused the laborers and mechanics, and 
alarmed the city officials. Sheriff Harrison summond all 
the constables in the county to meet at the court house, and 
swore in a large number of deputy marshals. Mayor 



230 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Yates issued a proclamation to the people to abstain from 
public gatherings. 

An attempt was made to destroy the new bridge at 
Bergen Tunnel, and President Sloan, of the Delaware 
Lackawanna and Western Railroad, caused two constables 
and forty armed men to be posted there. The train from 
Scranton brought ten or twelve men of a delegation from 
the United Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to 
Newark. 

The excitement at Trenton was greater than any time 
since the strikes began. It was expected that the train 
hands on the New York and Belvidere divisions would 
strike, and there was not a soldier in the city that could 
be depended on. The members of Companies A, B and 
D, Seventh Regiment, were kept in their armories all 
day. Companies B and D were workingmen, and many 
of them refused to turn out. Guards were sent out, and 
the men had to be brought under guard to the armories.- 
One hundred and twenty men of the Trenton companies 
were ordered to go to the Clinton street depot, where 
they took the train to New Brunswick to guard the rail- 
road bridge there. A guard of old soldiers was at the 
State Arsenal under General Truex, and the battery load- 
ed with grape and canister was in a position commanding 
the approaches thereto. 

Seven companies of the State National Guards left 
Trenton to concentrate at New Brunswick. They num- 
bered nearly three hundred men. Of these a part went 
to Jersey City and a part remained in New Brunswick 
to guard the railroad bridge at that place. Ammunition, 
had been forwarded to Jersey City. 

Four guns and a battery from Fort Hamilton, and & 



JERSEY TRAINMEN. 231 

battery from New London, acting as infantry, passed 
through Trenton, en-route for Philadelphia. 

At night the excitement at Trenton was gradually 
rising. The State authorities ordered the Seventh Reg- 
iment to be ready at a moments notice, and Company A 
took charge of the State Arsenal. 

Governor Bedle issued the following proclamation : 

To the People of the State of New Jersey : 

In the present State of the public mind I warn all 
citizens to keep at their homes and places of business, 
avoiding all gathering in the streets, so as to give en- 
couragement by their presence to evil disposed persons. 
Let every good citizen now by word, act,* and sentiment 
aid the authorities in securing perfect peace. Sheriffs 
and officers of cities are particularly requested to exert 
all their power in a calm, judicious, but effectual way 
to protect life and property from all lawlessness, and 
thereby save counties and cities from any liabilities un- 
der the statute for destruction of property by mobs. 
The whole power of the State will be used for the main- 
tenance of the law. I caution every person disposed to 
disturb the peace to desist at once, and thereby prevent 
any necessity for the use of the State force. 

Given under my hand at the city of Trenton, this 23d 
day of July, A. D., 1877. 

By the Governor. J. H. Bedle. 

(Signed.) John A. Hall, Private Secretary. 

At Elizabeth, General De Hart sent Colonel Morrell a 
second order to have the Third Eegiment ready for 
marching orders. Companies A, B and C assembled at 



232 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the Market Hall Armory, Elizabeth. Companies from 
Pahway, New Brunswick, and Keyport were en-route to 
that city. A large crowd collected in the streets around 
the armory, but there was no disturbance. The compa- 
nies rested on their arms that night. 

Mayor Townly and Sheriff Thompson received official 
notices from the receiver of the Central Railroad and 
from the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Company, 
that they feared riots in that city and county from 
strikers. The Third Regiment received orders to go to 
Hackensack Bridge to protect it. Hundreds of people 
surrounded the Pennsylvania main depot and Market 
Hall, and some threatened the militia. 

Sheriff Bill'.s, of Hunterdon County, arrested a num- 
ber of strikers on the 25th, who, it was thought, would 
cause some trouble if they had been allowed to remain 
at large. He sent them to Hunterdon County jail. At 
Phillipsburg there were thirty strikers arrested. 

At Easton the trains running had guards on each 
engine. Eight hundred Pennsylvania militia were or- 
dered to Easton, though all was quiet there. The New 
Jersey troops were in camp at Phillipsburg. 

Several trains arrived at Hoboken from Scranton, 
Washington, and Phillipsburg, with passengers. Among 
them were some United States Marshals, who had in 
their custody the somewhat noted Jack Gallagher, who, 
during the strike, had detained the United States mails. 
He had also, it was charged, threatened to take the life 
of any man who would run the mail train. Gallagher's 
arrest was delayed for the reason that it might have 
caused trouble had it been made while the excitement 
was at its height. The prisoner was taken before 



JERSEY TRAINMEN. 233 

United States Commissioner Muirhead, at Jersey City, 
and committed for trial. 

Detective Killcauly, of Jersey City, arrested Frank 
McCleary, Financial Secretary of the Brotherhood of 
Brakeman, on a charge of conspiracy to create a riot at 
Commnnipaw, (New Jersey Central Bailway.) He was 
locked up. 

The Jersey City Police Board, in a private consultation 
on the 25th of July, decided that as the three hundred 
and eighty special policemen on duty were costing the 
city $3.75 per day each, and as there was no further use 
for their services, it was necessary to discharge them, 
which was accordingly done. 

The Yice Chancellor of New Jersey had issued orders 
to all Sheriffs along the line of the New Jersey Central, 
directing them to summarily arrest for contempt of 
court all persons obstructing the running of the road by 
the receiver. 

Governor Bedle issued orders on the 26th, for the dis- 
bandment of the Ninth Regiment, stationed at Elysian 
Fields, Hoboken. The soldiers immediately deserted 
their camp, where they had been for ten days, and 
marched to Odd Fellows' Hall. Colonel Hart thanked 
them for their obedience at the hour of need and gen- 
eral good behavior. He also read a despatch from the 
Governor, complimenting the troops. Yociferous ap- 
plause followed, and amid the tumult a soldier shouted, 
" Three cheers for Pills," and there was load laughter and 
hurrahs. The men, during their encampment, had to 
doctor themselves pretty energetically. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



New York Agitated. 



The Excitement in the Great City — " The Dangerous Classes " Care- 
fully Watched — Getting Ready for Contingencies — Numerous Regi- 
ments of Militia Ordered Out — No Strikes but Serious Apprehen- 
sions Felt — The Internationals Active — A Great Communistic 
Meeting in Tompkins Square — What They Demanded of Society — 
Gay Times at the Armories — Ready Warriors without Foes to Face 
— Escaped the Danger. 



In New York, as elsewhere in the country, there was 
a deep rooted and widespread hostility toward the lead- 
ing managers of the great railway lines. Nor was this 
feeling confined only to railroad managers. In the great 
metropolis are hundreds of wealthy manufacturing com- 
panies, which have been gradually forcing down the 
wages of their employes, until it was no longer possible 
for them to live. As to the railroad managers, people 
very generally believed that they had conducted the 
business intrusted to them too much for their own pri- 
vate advantage. But this afforded no excuse for destroy- 
ing property and stopping trains by mobs. 

The conviction was universal that the four trunk rail- 
ways from the seaboard to the "West had seriously crip- 
pled themselves by carrying on a cut-throat war against 
each other in regard to the rates of freights and fares,, 
especially the former, and that this was the chief imme- 
diate reason why they found themselves obliged to 
diminish the wages of employes down to the mere living 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 235 

point, if not below it. But even if the railway mana- 
gers were highly censurable for these facts, their conduct 
afforded no justification for riots that ended in incen- 
diarism, bloodshed, and robbery in a number of cities. 

The sudden reduction of the wages of the railway 
employes, combined with the fact that even at the new 
rates they could only get work part of the time, fell 
heavily upon a vast number of honest, hardworking men ; 
but even this was no ground for riots or violence of any 
kind, which always aggravate the evils they are designed 
to cure. 

The city was full of men who were out of employment 
or working at low wages. Tens of thousands of them 
were very poor, and the families of many were suffering 
for lack of daily food. 

It was a time for cool, calm reflection on all sides. 
The poor, who were suffering, showed excellent sense in 
refraining from threats to retaliate on those who were 
better off, or who, perchance, refused to hire them at the 
price they demanded. Less prudence and justice were- 
shown by the wealthy and well-to-do classes who talked 
too much about shooting down every one who did not 
think as they did, or act to suit them. 

It was not a good time for people to lose their heads.. 

It was not surprising therefore that the startling 
events occurring elsewhere, should cause the people of 
New York no little uneasiness, by a reflex influence on 
the vast hive of human beings who were scarcely able to 
obtain a bit of bread to appease their gnawing hunger. 

A careful canvass of the feelings and views of the em- 
ployes of the New York Central and Hudson Kiver Kail- 
road Companies, made on Sunday, the 22nd of July, 



236 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

1877, revealed, the fact, that there was a decided disposi- 
tion to join in a strike. Great dissatisfaction was caused 
by the ten per cent, reduction of wages on the roads, 
which went into effect on the first of July. The reduc- 
tion applied to the wages of all employes except those 
whose pay would be lowered by it to less then ten per 
-cent, an hour, a dollar a day, or thirty dollars a month. 
A hope was entertained that a compromise would ulti- 
mately be made with Mr. Yanderbilt, by which the re- 
duction would be modified in regard to the engineers. 
In such an event, of course, there would be no trouble. 
At any rate the strike would not commence at the New 
York end of the line. The New York Central was 
looked to for a beginning. The Hudson River and Har- 
lem men were dissatisfied enough to strike, but the New 
York Central men must do the striking. An employe 
of the Harlem, about this time, ridiculed the idea of any 
attempt at a strike anywhere on either of the three roads. 
The Company was evidently prepared to spend millions 
rather than yield, while the employes were too much dis- 
organized to carry on a concerted or effective action. 
" With the National and State Governments against us," 
he said, " and the troops and militia called out to defend 
rich corporations, there are no chances for us poor men. 
Under any circumstances," he continued, " a strike on 
the Harlem road would be futile, as it * ran nowhere,' 
and it didn't make any difference whether the trains con- 
nected or not." 

A reduction of the wages of the engineers and fire- 
men made a short time before, was accepted with great 
dissatisfaction by some of the men on the Morris and 
Essex Division of the Delaware and Lackawanna Kail- 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 237 

road. A further reduction would cause trouble, but the 
Company had not intimated a desire or intention to cut 
down the wages any lower. 

On the New Jersey Southern, everything was running 
smoothly, and the men seemed disposed to accept what 
the officials were able to pay them. 

One of the most intelligent engineers on the Erie 
declared that the engineers had received no instructions- 
whatever from the officers of the Brotherhood, regarding 
the attitude they were expected to maintain during the 
present difficulties. 

Mayor Ely, of New York, held two conferences with 
the Police Commissioners the evening of the 23rd, pro- 
ceedings of which were kept secret. It is now known 
however, that the conference had reference to the proper 
preparations for any possible breach of peace in that 
city, consequent upon railroad riots. 

The National Guardsmen of New York looked for or- 
ders all day Monday, the 23rd, however, nothing was 
heard from Albany, and at the several armories all was 
dark and silent, and General Shaler was at his home in 
Jersey City. It was deemed best, in case of a call, to 
summons the larger regiments, and regiments, too, the 
members of which would not have any close feeling for 
the rioters. The first call was for the Seventh, Eighth, 
Twenty-second, Seventy-first and Twelfth. 

At the arsenal, Colonel Wylie's aids were in readiness 
to prepare supplies and ammunition in such quantities 
as might be called for. The opinion of the officers 
seems to be that the troops ordered out at Buffalo and 
Rochester would be ample for all emergencies likely to 
arise along the western part of the Erie line. 



238 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The departure of the Twenty-third Kegiment, National 
Guards of the State of New York, from Brooklyn, for 
Hornellsville, created considerable commotion, both in 
that city and New York. 

An effort to force a strike among the cabinet-makers 
of New York and vicinity was not very successful. 

One prominent manufacturer reduced the rates of his 
employes who work at " piece work," seven and a half 
per cent., last Autumn. During the Spring the rates 
were increased, but recently a reduction was again made. 
The workmen employed in the manufactories, excited 
by the strikers on the railroads, became greatly dissatis- 
fied, and nearly three hundred of them resolved that 
they would work no longer, unless they were given an 
increase of twenty-five per cent, on the rates being paid 
them. Accordingly these men struck. Mr. Herman, 
the proprietor, was in Europe, and his manager, Mr. 
Lippert, told the strikers he could do nothing until 
he heard from his principal. This was not satisfactory 
to all parties, and a meeting of about one hundred and 
fifty of the workmen was held at Harmony Hall, in Es- 
sex street, to consider the situation. Meanwhile a large 
number of workmen, principally carvers and machine 
men, returned to work, determined to wait for an answer 
from Mr. Hermann. The meeting at Harmony Hall 
appointed committees to wait on workmen at the various 
establishments in New York, Brooklyn, and Williams- 
burg, to induce them to join in the movement. Later a 
meeting of the strikers was held at Harmony Hall to 
receive the reports of committees, which showed that 
but littl© success had attended their efforts, the men at 
work in nearly every instance refusing to strike. 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 239 

On Tuesday evening, July 24th, " The Bread Winners 
League," an organization of laboring men, met in New- 
York, and adopted a series of resolutions, in which they 
set forth that while labor is the foundation of national 
prosperity, and represents two-thirds of the population 
of the United States, it was powerless in the protection 
of its rights and interests. Flattered by the two politi- 
cal parties, it had been betrayed by both, and legislative 
and executive power had been employed in either for the 
perpetuation of official patronage and enormous salaries, 
or the creation and maintenance of railroad and other 
corporate monopolies. They condemned, as well as 
lamented, the destruction of life and property, but be- 
lieved that officers of gigantic railroad corporations were 
responsible for the acts deplored, by their oppressive and 
nnjust conduct toward their employes. 

They believed that the last reduction of ten per cent., 
simultaneously made through every section of the Union, 
indicated a combination among railroad companies to 
pauperize labor, since they made no reduction whatever 
in the fares of passengers, nor did they lessen the enor- 
mous compensation^ joyed by their chief officers. That 
the lives and comfort of travellers depended upon the 
intelligence and fidelity of engineers and brakemen, and 
the exposure and danger connected with their duties en- 
titled them especially to public sympathy. 

They further declared, that if the industrial and labor- 
ing classes desire to protect their just interests and polit- 
ical independence, they must be emancipated from party 
vassalage, and secure direct and honest representations 
in the councils of the nation. State and municipal au- 
thorities were in conspiracy and union with monopolies ; 



240 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

even the judiciary were under their influence. The instru- 
ments of corporations notoriously become the Judges of 
the country or the leaders of political organizations. Au- 
gustus Schell, Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall, was the 
treasurer of the New York Central Railroad, and its ac- 
credited counsel was a member of the Republican Gen- 
eral Committee. The Directors, who, by negligence or 
crime, steal the earnings of the poor from savings banks, 
and render life insurance companies bankrupt, invariably 
escape punishment, and under existing laws and their 
administration afforded no adequate protection for 
either depositors or the insured. 

They regretted that some of the newspapers of New 
York insisted that the industrial classes should refrain 
from any expression of opinion on the subjects then 
virtually affecting the rights and interests of labor. 
Such a sentiment subjugated labor to capital, and pro- 
voked hostility and distrust, and by reflecting on the in- 
telligence, integrity and patriotism of workingmen, de- 
served and should receive their united condemnation. 

A company of about two hundred and fifty men and 
boys assembled in front of the Seventh Regiment armory, 
at Tompkins Market, at about ten o'clock on the night of 
the 24th. They commenced to jeer and shout at the 
members of the regiment, and a sergeant, in uniform, 
attempting to pass through the crowd, was rather 
roughly handled. Pie retreated to the barracks and pro- 
cured a suit of citizens' clothes. At the time he was 
attacked he was going for powder to load the guns that 
had been placed in positition in the armory during the 
day. Captain McCullogh, of the Seventeenth Precinct, 
with a platoon of men, succeeded in dispersing the mob. 
There were no arrests made. 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 241' 

Some time later the mob gathered, about fifty strong,, 
at the corner of Third street and the Bowery. It was 
thought that they intended to break into the Dry Dock 
Savings Bank. On the approach of the police they were- 
again dispersed without any great trouble. 

A committee of engineers of the Long Island Rail- 
road, had a conference with E. B. Hindsdale, the General 
Manager, in reference to the proposed ten per cent, re- 
duction of their wages. The meeting was of quite an 
amicable character. On the part of themselves, and the 
employes generally of the Company, the engineers re- 
monstrated against any further cutting down of the 
present rates of compensation. The engineers also ex- 
pressed their dissatisfaction at the irregular way in which 
their salaries had been paid. They had not been paid for 
the previous month, and they complained that two months 
frequently elapsed before they got the money due them. 
The conference resulted in nothing of a very positive 
nature, but it was understood that the ten per cent, re- 
duction would not take effect for the present and that 
the Company would endeavor to make arrangements- 
providing in future for a fixed day in every month upon 
which to pay the engineers and other employes. 

Alfred K. Fisk, the General Superintendent of the- 
road, said that whatever difficulties existed between the 
Company and its employes, were sure to be settled in a 
manner satisfactory to all parties. 

On the 24th, President Martin, of the Park Depart- 
ment, called upon Mayor Ely, to consult him relative to 
a request made by a committee of laborers to hold a 
mass meeting in Tompkins Square, on Wednesday even- 
ing, the 25th. It was understood that this gathering had 

16 



™ 



242 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

been arranged for the purpose of expressing sympathy 
with the strikers. Police Commissioner Smith was also 
present at the consultation. The Mayor said he had no 
objection to the assemblage, as he anticipated that it would 
pass off in a peaceable and orderly manner. Mr. Smith 
stated that he would make all necessary preparations so 
as to prevent any disturbance upon that occasion. 
Mayor Ely was under the impression that the trouble 
would be over in a very short time, and no danger what- 
ever need be apprehended in the city. 

A very large assemblage of workingmen, sympathizers 
with the railroad strikers, met at the German Assembly 
Rooms, in the Bowery, the evening of the 24th. The 
place was noted as the resort of the disturbing element in 
the city ; the Communists having held frequent meetings 
there. At the meeting that evening there were some 
three hundred people present, mostly Germans, who 
gathered for the purpose of giving expression to their 
sentiments on the pending troubles on the lines of our 
railroads. These assembly rooms were kept by a brother 
of Alderman Sauer. They were also the headquarters 
of the Liquor Dealers' Association of the city, who hold 
meetings about once a week if emergencies require them 
to come together. 

Justus Schwab was one of the leaders in the move- 
ment. There were no leaders from other societies pre- 
sent. It was comparatively a spontaneous demonstra- 
tion on behalf of the suffering men on the lines of the 
railroads. Schwab declared that if anybody talked 
about a* man with a family living on seventy cents a day 
he was a damned fool. "Whoever says so," to use Mr. 
Schwab's expressive language, "I knock his brains out 
right away." 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 243 

He thought the strikers perfectly right. 

As to his own financial condition, Mr. Schwab was in 
<doubt whether he was worth much money or not. 

As to those who sympathized in the movement of the 
strikers, there were many respectable men. They did 
not want any fights. They wanted the railroad men to 
have their rights. That was all. With seventy cents a 
■day to live on they must starve or steal. 

The audience was at times inclined to be disorderly, 
but the officers suppressed indications of a tumult. 
David Conroy was elected Chairman, and J. E. Hall, 
Secretary. 

Mr. Conroy, who belongs to the Horseshoers' Union, 
•on taking the chair, said they were called upon to per- 
form a duty to their suffering brethren of the West. It 
was a straggle between exacting capital and impoverished 
labor. Thomas A. Scott, of Pennsylvania, had re- 
duced the wages of his poor employes ten per cent. 
That man said, that ninety cents a day was enough to 
support a man and his family. Mr. Hayes did not repre- 
sent the working classes of America. Let no man obey 
the mandates issued by him. He was not President by 
the voice of the people, but by chicanery and fraud. 
Therefore the people should not obey his proclamations. 
If he attempted to call out seventy-five thousand men, 
they would all enlist, and then let the President take 
eare that he did not have to leave Washington as 
Louis Philippe left France in 1844. 

Speakers were nominated for the mass meeting on 
Wednesday night, and the following were choosen : Mr. 
•Cash man, of the Tailors' Union, McLander Thompson, 
and Mr. Winters to speak in English ; Mr. Alexander 



244 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Jonas, Otto Wallstein, editor of the Arbeiter Stimme r 
and Justus Schwab to speak in German, and Demorest^ 
the Paris Communist, to make a French address. 

Wednesday, July 26th, was a day fraught with anxiety 
to the people of New York. The great demonstration 
of the Internationalists was to take place in the evening r 
and what the result might be, no one could foretelL 
The Tompkins Square meeting, was a theme in everyone's 
mouth. 

All knew that the request of the restless and semi- 
communistic classes to improve the occasion and hold a 
public meeting in the densest quarter of New York, had 
been acceded to by the Park and Police Commissioners. 
The relative importance of New York to the rest of the 
Union could have received no better testimonial than the 
telegraphic dispatches which flashed into the city from 
every point of the compass, saying, in effect, " If 
New York gives way before the mob, when will this 
thing end ?" "We are all looking to Wednesday night 
in New York, to know whether this strike is a spasmodie 
affair, or a rebellion from underneath." " The immense 
population of New York is looked to by all the disor- 
derly elements for a final outbreak. Can it be pre- 
vented ? Why do your Police Commissioners allow such 
a meeting at this crisis ?" 

Such were the contents of despatches received by 
merchants and other business and professional people in 
New Yoik, and they attested the power of such a city 
for good or evil upon the whole country. Smaller cities 
trembled in apprehension of Mew York's vast popula- 
tion rising np against law and property : but in that 
ci ty, as a general rule, the heads of men were not turned. 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 245 

Nobody left town. Although the trains were embar- 
rassed on all sides of New York, the Paris-like life of 
the city was illustrated, as every day in the week, by the 
presence of children out of doors, and carts and omni- 
buses were running to and fro. The beautiful Wednes- 
day morning broke upon a bay as lively with shipping, 
.-as full of ferry boats, and as streaming with national 
flags as at any time in the history of the metropolis of 
the Western Hemisphere. Some thousands of daily vis- 
itors to New York, who eame in late at the ferries, ban- 
nered each other when they landed, and ascended to 
Broadway. They looked about them and said, " There 
is no look of riot here." But others, more timid, 
responded, " The mornings are never riotous. We must 
wait until night to find our destiny out." 

Even in Wall street, that seat of gamblers, lofty or 
low, the general inquiry was, "What will happen at 
Tompkins Square to-night ?" Men answered this ques- 
tion according to their temperaments, and it was notica- 
ble that the ordinary business American did not bother 
himself about prevention, trusting to luck that every 
offense against the law would redress itself. Yet the 
stock market tumbled underneath. Bluff was the game 
in that quarter of the town, and he would be a cheap 
man who effected to shrink before the possibilities of a 
• communistic mass meeting. 

At night, the lights began to gleam and glimmer in 
the quadrangle of tall brick tenements surrounding 
Tompkins Square. The windows were all up. Out of 
them hung women and children, and, in some instances, 
men, viewing with eager interest the gathering of the 
crowds below. The enthusiasm was not very great, but 



246 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

now and then, in guttural German accents, or the more* 
melifluous tones of " Old Ireland," came expressions 
laudatory of the workingmen's cause. From none of 
the houses were any banners exhibited, and the tops of 
the adjacent buildings presented no signs of life what- 
ever. But the sidewalks everywhere were crowded with, 
infantile treasures, adolescent youth of both sexes, and 
mature and indifferent people of all ages and of all na- 
tionalities. It was generally remarked that a more 
peaceable assemblage of people had never come together.. 

The hurrying hundreds gathered in the naked, sandy 
square before dark. A few societies inarched in with red 
ribbons at their buttonholes, but the trade societies gen- 
erally kept away. So did the tramps and bummers. A 
genial public opinion, the outcrop of the out-of-door 
hearty society, protected New York from all forms of 
dead-beats and bummerism. The working people were* 
particular about their company. 

On the gates and bars about Tompkins Square were 
posters printed in large letters, which admonished the 
assembling crowds to stand still where they were, andi 
think before going further in the troubles around 
them. An hour's work may cost millions of money and 
hundreds of lives. All the lives lost will not be on one- 
side only, and the money will come back on the people 
to be paid out of the taxes to be imposed on all.. 
Powder burns more than one hand when it is used. 

Keep on the side of law, and keep the law on the side 
of laborers. If they wanted to right their wrongs, they 
must keep in the path of right. 

There was a great deal of talk about capital being the 
enemy of labor. That was not true. Capital and labor 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 247 

must work together. The capitalist and the laborer 
were partners in business, and it required good faith on 
both sides to make business profitable. Neither can 
prosper alone. 

They should beware of men who talk violence, riots 
and bloodshed. Such were their worst enemies. All 
the expenses, and losses, and damages will be paid by 
the city or State, and only add so much more to taxes. 
Every workingman who' talks about riots is preparing to 
lay more taxes on his own shoulders. Times were hard. 
Would they make them harder ? The best way was to 
go to work, keep the wheels moving in all branches of 
business, and avoid everything that makes an unfriendly 
feeling with those who have all the risks of the busi- 
ness, both for themselves and for workingmen. 

Turn away from bad advisers, and, above all, " Don't 
unchain the tiger." 

The meeting proved to be a very orderly and a very 
decent one. Mr. John Swinton, who is in point of edu- 
cation and culture entitled to the rank of leader of the 
New York Communists, made a speech characteristic 
of the man and the occasion. He said that gazing 
over a sea of honest and intelligent faces, gave him as- 
surance that he was addressing no mob. " You are,'* 
said he, " as good as Henry Ward Eeecher's congrega- 
tion, and I think the comparison is rather in your favor. 
I think the Police Commissioners did well and wisely in 
permitting this meeting to take place, and Mayor Ely 
has won imperishable laurels by saying there was no 
power in the constitution to prevent a meeting like this 
from taking place. I speak to you in presence of eight 
thousand rifles and eight hundred clubs that cover you. 



"24:8 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

And now (here the speaker raised his voice to its loudest 
tones) what is this social volcano that has brought us here 
together, — this power that has one hundred thousand 
Americans and one billion dollars within its grasp ? " 

" On one side," continued the speaker, u we see the 
movement of workingmen anxious only to restore the 
rate of wages to which they are justly entitled ; put 
back to where it was before the 1st of July ; and on the 
other hand we see the steady and relentless disposition on 
the part of capital to cut men's wages down so low as to 
make life a choice between starvation and suicide. 
Glory to the militia who refused to fire on the strikers. 
(Great applause.) Glory to the Sixteenth Pennsylvania, 
that refused to be the accomplices of the murderers of 
the innocent men, women and children at Pittsburgh. 

There were perhaps ten or twelve thousand persons 
present. The declarations coming from this meeting, 
were drawn by the ablest representatives of the Com- 
mune in the country, and are therefore to be regarded as 
the authoritative utterances of that element in America. 
For this reason they are reproduced here. They read as 
follows : 

1. That the Workingmen's Party of the city and 
county of New York tender their heartfelt sympathies to 
the railroad men now on a strike in different localities in 
the country. 

2. That we consider all legalized charter corporations, 
such as railroad, banking, mining, manufacturing, gas, etc., 
under the present system of operation, as the most des- 
potic and heartless enemies of the working classes. That 
their acts of tyranny and oppression have been the cause of 
demoralizing thousands of honest workingmen, thereby 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 249 

•driving them to acts of madness, desperation and crime 
that they would not otherwise have been guilty of had 
they been justly dealt by. 

3. That as these chartered companies have been the 
primal cause of their employes' miseries and of ther con- 
sequences, we hold them morally responsible for all acts 
of violence that proceed from and are the legitimate re- 
sults of their tyranny and oppression. 

4. That we view with alarm the growing influence 
and power of these corporations over the legislation of 
the State and nation, and believe if that influence con- 
tinues, the executive, judicial and legislative branches of 
the government will become totally demoralized, the 
rights of the masses destroyed, and, instead of the voice 
of the people, the power of the almighty dollar will be- 
come absolute and supreme. 

5. That we do earnestly request and advise all the 
working classes throughout the country to unite as 
speedily as possible for the purpose of forming a political 
party, based on the natural rights of labor. Let us make 
common cause against a common enemy. That nothing 
short of a political revolution, through the ballot box, 
on the part of the working classes will remedy the evils 
under which they suffer. That it is the purpose of the 
Workingmen's Party to confiscate, through legislation, 
the unjustly gotten wealth of these legalized and char- 
tered corporation theives that are backed by the Shylocks 
and moneyed syndicates of Europe and this country. 
That we love law and order, peace and tranquility, jus- 
tice and righteousness above all else, and deprecate, any- 
thing and everything that will pervert them, and that 
we are ever ready to give our lives in defence of the in 
herited rights of man. 



250 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The meeting also moved an address to the President of 
the United States, which, because of the part this element 
is attempting to act in American politics, we place here 
in order all may know the spirit and purpose of the In- 
ternationalists. 

To Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United 

States : 

Sir : — We, the workingmen of the City of New York, 
in mass meeting assembled, acting from a sense of duty r 
and prompted by true feelings of humanity and a sincere 
desire for peace and harmony in society, do earnestly and 
respectfully call your attention to the serious condition 
of affairs now existing and which have existed for some 
time past, between the operatives and the officials of 
the mining and railroad corporations in several States of 
the Union. The crimson tide of the life blood of 
citizens, soldiers and hardy workmen, have already 
mingled in sanguinary strife. The heavens have been 
lit up with the lurid glare of incendiary fires that have 
reduced to ashes millions of property. Men have fallen 
beneath deadly blows dealt by unseen and unknown 
hands, until it seems that if evil days had fallen upon 
us as a nation. Three millions of the bone and sinew 
of the country converted into wandering vagabonds, and 
a large portion of those employed on the verge of 
starvation. Do these evils, that have assumed such 
magnitude and proportions as to necessitate the issuance 
of a proclamation on your part to preserve the peace, 
come within the scope or jurisdiction of national legis- 
lation ? Whatever may be the cause of these evils, the 
only remedy applied so far has been the hangman's rope 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 251 

and soldier's bullet. Think you, Mr. President, these 
are effectual and permanent remedies that will insure 
henceforth peace and good order in society ? We think 
not. Whatever cause produces these antagonistic rela- 
tions between employer and employe must be sought 
out and removed. 

We address you, Mr. President, because you are one 
having great power and authority conferred upon you by 
the Constitution. You are Commander-in-Chief of the 
armed forces of the United States, and during the recess 
of Congress they are at your absolute disposition. Need 
we suggest to you the wisdom of extreme caution in the 
exercise of you national military power, lest the breach 
of the peace be widened, class feeling intensified and public 
safety more endangered ? We think, Mr. President,, 
that the situation of affairs is of such an important and 
alarming character that they justify on your part the 
immediate calling of an extra session of Congress. 
These terrible occurrences and disturbances between the 
employers and employes of mining and railroad com- 
panies that have startled and shocked the community of 
late, involve, as you well know, what is termed the rela- 
tions between labor and capital. Many are of the 
opinion that any interference or action on the part of 
the government to adjust these relations are contrary 
and inimicable to the genius and spirit of modern civil- 
ization and republican institutions ; that the function of 
the government is simply to prevent any violent collisions 
in society resulting from the antagonistic relations of 
these two elements performing such important functions 
in the affairs of human society, and that throughout the 
history of the world so far have been eternally at sword's, 
points with each other. 



252 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

LABOR IGNORED IN LEGISLATION. 

Those who take this view of the matter seem to over- 
look the great fact that legislation has always dealt with 
at least one of these factors— namely, capital ; and has 
almost entirely ignored the other — namely labor ; which 
is, in our opinion, the primal cause of the present dif- 
ficulties. Had legislation afforded the same oppor- 
tunities and guaranteed the same rights and privileges 
to labor that it has to capital, these evil days would not 
have befallen us. When railroad kings can build palaces 
to live in costing millions, and others die bequeathing 
hundreds of millions to their children, and boast while 
living that they never troubled themselves about the 
election of representatives, but bought them up after 
they were elected, and used them as a means to enrich 
themselves at the expense of their employes and the 
general public, it seems about time to consider whether 
or not legislation cannot confer some justice and rights 
upon labor as well as privileges to capital. 

We have always considered that law should be the 
synonym of justice. Has not Congress the power under 
the constitution to govern and control, for the benefit of 
the whole people, the high-ways, and water-courses of 
the nation, and regulate its internal commerce and trade ? 
Is there any constitutional law that prohibits the State 
or general government from controlling or supervising 
the mineral resources of the nation? Should not also 
the telegraph system be connected with our postal de- 
partment ? and last, but not least, a government mone- 
tary system established that would supercede the present 
individual corporate banking institutions, that are noth- 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 25& 

ing more nor less than parasites on the body politic. 
All of these chartered institutions exist by a system of 
dividends of profits that proceed directly from the labor- 
ing classes. In their efforts to make those dividends, the 
blood and marrow are extracted from labor, until finally, 
maddened and desperate by the exacting tyranny of cap- 
ital, rendered ignorant and brutish by poverty, it resorts 
to brute force and violence to redress its wrongs. It can- 
not be expected that men acting under the impetus of 
starvation should act wisely or well, or adhere to moral 
principle. The very individuals who are most loud in 
their denunciation of the acts of the strikers, placed in 
their situation, might do, possibly, if they had the cour- 
age, far worse. 

We, as a class, view with alarm the growth and power 
of these gigantic corporations. Wielding thousands of 
millions of dollars capital as a power they are fast de- 
moralizing and corrupting the executive, judicial and 
legislative branches of the goverments of both State and 
nation ; and the rights of labor and the liberties of the 
common people, if we continue on in this course, will soon 
be swept away, (and here let us state that W. M. Evarts, 
a member of your Cabinet, has recommended as a meas- 
ure of political reform in this State the restriction of 
suffrage on a basis of a moneyed qualification, thereby of- 
fering a direct insult to every workingman in this State) ; 
and when they are gone, the revolution commences, and 
the emancipation of the white wages slaves of the North 
will cost the Republic more blood and treasure than ever 
the emancipation of the black chattle slaves of the 
South did, and God knows that cost enough. 

We look to you, Mr. President, to be vigilant in re- 



"254 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

spect to our interests and welfare, for the prosperity and 
perpetuity of this nation rests upon the principal of jus- 
tice to labor. Class legislation is the ruin and eventual 
downfall of any nation. Hoping you will reply to us 
through the columns of the public press, expressing 
somewhat your views upon the situation, 

We remain with great respect, 

B. Kaufman, 

G. WoNTER, 

A. Walster, 
J. Schwab, 
E. Hall, 

Leander Thompson, 
On behalf of the workingmen of the city of New 
York. 

While the socialists were thus giving expression to 
opinions, at Tompkins Square, another class of working* 
ingmen had assembly at Battery Park, in vast numbers, 
and took part in an open air meeting which was held 
there, under the direction of Reverend William H. 
Acres. After a short discussion on a text from the Bible, 
Mr. Acres addressed the workingmen present as to their 
duty in this present crisis. 

He began his remarks by deprecating, in the strongest 
language, the present contest between capital and labor, 
saying it would ultimately recoil upon the shoulders of 
the workingmen, who almost invariably had to suffer the 
brunt of such battles. He believed that the strike was 
a foolhardy proceeding, that it was exceedingly ill-timed, 
and had already caused the shedding of a great deal of 
innocent blood, and might yet, for all that then could 



NEW YORK AGITATED. 255 

be said, cause the whole country to swim in rivers of 
gore. Men, he said, had entered the strike, some with 
the best of reasons, and some without any reason at all, 
but merely to give loose rein to the unruly passions 
within them. As far as these latter were concerned he 
felt convinced that the entire blame for the loss of life 
already occasioned, as well as the immense destruction 
of property that had been made, was solely attributed to 
their lawlessness, and he regretted that these offenders 
-could not readily be called to account for their misdeeds. 
Mr. Acres then, in very feeling language, implored his 
auditors not to suffer themselves to be inveigled into 
any falsely styled sympathy with the present strike, and 
besought them to keep away from meetings gotten up 
•during the present agitation. These, meetings, he said, 
were only forces which certain unprincipled men were 
using as a means to foist themselves upon notice in order 
that they might make political capital out of it. The 
projectors of the meeting which at that moment was 
■convening in Tompkins Square, were not, according to 
his idea, honest and sincere men. He believed their object 
was to foment discord and disatisfaction among the work- 
ingmen of New York, and to gain a wide recognition of 
their abominably communistic doctrine, and he begged 
that all there, honest workingmen, would not give the 
slighest countenance to the movement. 

Mr. Acres then made a very fervent prayer, during 
which he implored Heaven to protect the city of New 
York from the power of the ruthless men that were 
seeking to destroy its peace, that it would kindly extend 
Its all-powerful aid to the police and help them to main, 
tain order and quiet, and that it would soon cause the 



256 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

present difficulties to melt away like snow before the 
beams of the sun. 

The wisdom of the course pursued by the Mayor and 
Police Commissioners of New York, granting permis- 
sion to hold a meeting was signally vindicated by the 
results of the Tompkins Square gathering. 

From the beginning to the end of the meeting there 
was not the slightest exhibition of a dangerous purpose 
on the part of the people, and incendiary remarks, 
whether in English or German, fell upon the ear still- 
born. The orators had apparently lost heart. The 
stands were thronged by many boys, and there was an 
utter want of the vim and snap that characterizes an 
ordinary political meeting. It is not likely that all this 
result was due to the fact known to every person on the 
ground, that while not a policemen showed his uniform 
in the crowd, or invited the slightest antagonism, five 
hundred sturdy men, armed to the teeth, were 
within ear-shot, ready to sweep down on the instant, at 
any point where a disturbance might occur, and nearly 
a thousand more were in reserve waiting with ready 
hands to preserve peace and maintain the fair name of 
the metropolis. The utmost good nature prevailed, 
the sidwalks of the square rang with the cries of huck- 
sters, women and children lined the steps of the adjacent 
houses, or innocently elbowed their way among the mul- 
titude, and faces generally wore anything but the expres- 
sion of excitement or anxiety which might be expected 
to attach to the occassion. 

Of the ten or twelve thousand thus assembled, prob- 
ably not more than three thousand were actively identi- 
fied with the trades unions and International societies, 



NEW YOKK AGITATED. 257 

-•and many of the former openly expressed their condem- 
nation of the attempt of a few men to create further 
trouble and distress at this time. The bulk of the crowd 
was composed of people who curiously desired to see 
what was going on, and took good care to be sufficiently 
near the highways to make an early exit in case of a 
demonstation by the police or military. The beer-sellers 
of the neighborhood were evidently the only part of the 
community benefited by this " great" meeting, while 
the surgeons at the several stations, who doubtless ex- 
pected an abundance of work, quickly folded away their 
probes and sticking plaster and laid down to pleasant 
dreams. 

This meeting over, New York became quiet. About 
the armories the militia-men were enjoying life in a 
very agreeable manner. In two days afterwards the 
soldiers were dismissed, and the great Metropolis was 
restored to its wanted condition, happy in having escaped 
domestic convulsion during the great strikes. 



M7 



CHAPTER XX. 



Away From the Metropolis. 



Rochester's Wave of Trouble — A Slight Shock at Albany — Syracuse 
Seriously Threatened — Other Places Experience Some Uneasiness 
— The Conclusion of the Blockade at Hornellsville — The Empire 
State Comes Out of the Great Strikes Almost Unscathed. 



The momentous occurrence of the days of the strikes 
overshadowed every other topic, and agitated the public 
mind to its profoundest depths. So sudden and terrible 
was the struggle between capital and labor — so wide- 
spread and so disastrous to some of the most gigantic 
railroads in the world — that the public mind was wholly 
unprepared for the events which took place, and the 
stoutest hearts were appalled at the scenes of arson, pil- 
lage and murder, which were enacted in two of the most 
prominent manufacturing cities in the country. The 
daily press was never more actively employed in gather- 
ing up the stirringnews, and reporting fully the exciting 
events that occurred during those dark days, so that the 
public has been made familiar with all the details of the 
great and desperate struggle. 

What this struggle was, every man, woman and child 
in the land understood, who was capable of reasoning. 
It is proper to show how this conflict was viewed, and 
however widely diversified opinions were expressed, 
in the main, the strikers enlisted a large share of public- 



AWAY FROM THE METROPOLIS. 259' 

sympathy. All overt acts, however, were severely con- 
demned. 

It has been noticed how quick the American people 
can emerge from a period of excitement. They not only 
allow the events of such a crisis to pass out of mind 
with remarkable celerity, but seem to abandon just as 
readily the theories and plans which absorbed their at- 
tention completely, during the entire time these were 
uppermost. Their passions subside so rapidly and com- 
pletely that they become oblivious of the very nature of 
an exciting cause almost as soon as it has .ceased to mas- 
ter them. This may be due to a trait of national char- 
acter, or it may arise from the fact that no class among 
us have for any great length of time labored under the 
sense of an intolerable grievance. The American peo- 
ple are quick to forget and forgive. Those in the wrong 
generally own up when beaten, and the victors are will- 
ing to let the dead past bury its dead. But it is also 
quite as true that no considerable fraction of our citizens, 
as such, inherit the memory wrong and oppression sys- 
systematically continued from one generation to another. 
It is only recently that any appreciable number of our 
people have been brought face to face with suffering 
not caused by themselves. 

For these reasons we are inclined to believe that the 
causes which produced the turmoil of this year will 
leave u 1 ankling source of future disorder behind it. 
The striking and disaffected railway employes will not 
forget thai t hey avowed opinions, and entered upon a 
course subversive of the existing vicious system in the 
distribution of wealth — the production of labor. The 
g eneral public will forgive the attack upon its peace, 



260 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

when the principle on which that attack was based is 
discovered to be after all, in the main, correct. And 
then, perhaps, the whole community may become 
gradually pervaded by the idea that the question of 
wages is not alone one of supply and demand, but that 
in the long run the better paid, and consequently the 
more prosperous and intelligent laborers, are the better 
and more profitable workmen. 

Some day the discussion must take place in regard to 
the proper adjustment of the relations between those 
who have hands to produce, and those who have brains 
to accumulate all the hands can make'. There is an ethi- 
cal side to the question, and it would be well for the 
country — well for the interests of humanity, if men can 
come with earnest minds and right purposes to the dis- 
cussion of the subject. It seemed that the working 
men, actuated by more wisdom than characterized some 
of their class, resolved to await the solution of the ques- 
tion by discussion, so far as the great State of New 
York was concerned. They did well. 

The freight conductors, firemen, and brakemen at East 
■Syracuse struck on the 24th, and sent a despatch to Wil- 
liam H. Yanderbilt, announcing the fact, and declaring 
they would not resume work until their pay was restored 
to the amount received prior to July 1st, 1ST 7. 

The mechanics at East Syracuse, numbering one hundred 
also struck. Six hundred freight cars, seventy engines, 
and forty trains of freight were embargoed at East Syra- 
cuse. The strikers detailed a force of their own men to 
guard and protect the property of the Company. 

The strikers were very quiet. They warned all out- 
siders, tramps, and Communists to keep away from 



AWAY FROM THE METEOP0L T S. 261 

them, declaring they were competent to manage their 
own business. 

At East Syracuse passenger trains were stopped by the 
MrJcnn the 25th, but afterwards were allowed to 
start. Mail cars had been placed at the rear of trains, 
and as the ot'her cars could not be detained without in- 
terfering with the mails, the trains were allowed to pass 
on. An effort to cause a general strike at Syracuse 
during the day was not successful. Eight companies of 
the Forty-eighth Regiment, N. G., arrived from Oswego, 
and were quartered at the State Armory. 

Passenger trains were running on the Oswego, Syra- 
cuse and Binghampton branch of the Delaware and 
Lackawanna Road. No freight was received at Syra- 
cuse. President Sloan, of the Delaware and Lack- 
awanna Road, and Superintendent Priest, of the 
Central Road, caused to be served notices on the Sheriff 
of Onondaga County, and Mayor of Syracuse, of moles- 
tations and apprehended troubles. The local authorities 
perfected a strong organization to suppress any outbreak. 
. It was a fortunate circumstance for the whole country, 
that among the working masses of the great State of 
New York, their grievances were not of a character to 
induce, or compel them to go into the strikes which per- 
vaded the greater part of the Union. There was a time, 
however, during the troublous days, when it appeared 
as if the great laboring masses of the Empire State were 
on the point of rising, and with the might of their num- 
bers still further complicate matters and endanger the 
political and social institutions of the country. In the 
interior cities of the State, outside the great Metropolis, 
there were a number of marked manifestations of dis- 



262 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

quiet. The first trouble occured at Rochester, where at 
one time the railroad men held a meeting and sent a 
committee to confer with Mr. Yanderbilt, and decided 
to await a definite answer from him as to the rescinding 
of the ten per cent, reduction order, before taking action. 
But there was so few of them as compared with other 
places, that, without reenforcements from outside, the 
chances were against serious disturbance. A hard look- 
ing gang went down from Buffalo, on the 22d, but the 
police overawed them. One young man was arrested 
and locked up for inciting to a breach of the peace, 
and the night passed without any act of violence. All 
the companies of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Rochester, 
were held in readiness for service at the shortest warn- 
ing. Early the morning of the 23d, Gedde's cooper 
shop was burned ; the fire was charged to the coopers on 
strike. 

From Monday, the 23d, no trains went west of Ro- 
chester, except over the Falls branch. Tuesday the Blue 
Line freight train went over the Falls road under police 
guard. An engine and tender went from Buffalo to 
Rochester the 23d. 

The Albany Burgess Corps, an independent company, 
was ordered out the 23d. The Ninth Brigade, General 
Dicherman, was reported ready to proceed to Rochester 
at a moment's notice. The strikers at West Albany sent 
a message that they would not allow troops to pass over 
the road. The strikers were in immense numbers on the 
tracks between Albany and West Albany, and stopped all 
freight trains on the 23d of July. The strikers pre- 
sented a picturesque appearance, scattered along the 
road on either side of the track, the women and children 



AWAY FROM THE METROPOLIS. 263 

carrying their noon meal, and all sitting down enjoying 
it, while others were racing with hand cars and singing 
songs. One thousand men from the Albany Railroad 
shops joined the strike, and proceeded towards Albany. 
Governor Robinson, Mayor Banks and Chief of Police 
Malory, held a consultation at the Executive Chamber, 
on the 24th, to devise plans of operation to preserve the 
peace. The Tenth Regiment was ordered to Rochester 
.the same day. 

The Central Railroad officials notified the Sheriff of 
Albany county that they looked to the county authori- 
ties to protect the Company's property at West Albany 
Most of the rolling stock there had been sent away in 
-advance of the strike, and twenty-three engines went on 
to Buffalo on Sunday, to help in moving the cattle cars. 
But the shops, barns, cattle sheds, and material remained. 
The authorities were hopeful that there would be no 
violence. The strike of one thousand men employed at 
West Albany was brought about by a visit of a delega- 
tion. An additional supply of ammunition was received 
at the State Arsenal, which was well guarded. Some 
excitement was caused by a report that roughs were 
gathering in force near the Watervliet Arsenal, between 
Albany and West Troy. 

The strikers forced the men in the Central depot 
freight house, on Water street, the roundhouse, and 
elevator, to quit work ; when the men objected they 
were taken by the shoulder and thrust out. On State 
street the Citizen's Corps, of Troy, were met marching 
to the armory of the Tenth Regiment. The crowd 
hissed the soldiers but did not attack them. 

On the 25th of July, Governor Robinson, from the 



264 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Executive office at Albany, issued a proclamation, in- 
which, he invited the special attention of all the citizens- 
of the State, and especially of such persons as were at- 
tempting to interfere with the running of railroad trains,. 
to the provision of an act of the Legislature, passed last 
year, which provides, " That any person who shall will- 
fully place any obstruction' upon any railroad, or loosen, 
tear up, or remove any part of a railroad, or displace, 
tamper, or in any way interfere with any switches, frogs, 
rail, track, or other part of any railroad, so as to en- 
danger the safety of any train, or who shall willfully 
throw any stone, or any other missile, at any train or any 
railroad, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by 
imprisonment in a State prison, not exceeding ten years,, 
or be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars,. 
or by both such fine and imprisonment." 

The Governor warned all persons engaged in the 
violation of the law to desist therefrom, and he called. 
upon all Sheriffs, Magistrates, District Attorneys, and 
other civil officers, and upon all good citizens to aid in. 
the enforcement of the law, and secure the punishment 
of all who were guilty of its violation, and he offered a- 
reward of five hundred dollars, to be paid upon the ar- 
rest and conviction of each and every person who should 
be found guilty of a violation of the act. The failure 
or omission of any Sheriff, District Attorney, or other 
civil officer to take the most active steps in his power 
to enforce the provisions of the act was declared to be 
a sufficient cause for his removal. 

At Albany the crisis was passed on the 25th. That 
morning the workmen resumed operations in the rail- 
road shops and yards, and freight trains were despatched- 



AWAY FROM THE METROPOLIS. 265 

The military, under the command of General Carr, em- 
bracing the Ninth and Tenth Regiments of National 
Guards, with the Albany Jackson Corps, and the Citi- 
zens' Corps, of Troy, protected the road and held the 
streets of the Capital in quiet. 

A striker in Albany was not to be found. An attempt 
was made to hold a meeting within the lines of General 
Carr's Division, at "West Albany, but by the sudden 
onslaught of six companies of the Ninth Regiment,, 
the workingmen were dispersed. It was remarked 
that there was no interference with a meeting of 
capitalist held the same day. The strikers had gone to 
a portion of the line between Albany and Schenectady, 
where they could overhaul trains without fear o£ the 
military. Nobody believed that the rioters had per- 
manently dispersed. 

At the Adjutant-General's office, at Albany, business 
was excessively brisk about this time. The Adjutant- 
General was superintending the movement of troops 
which was going on with the expedition that might be 
expected from regulars. The promptitude of command- 
ants and commissaries was something worthy of com- 
mendation. The troops were posted where they could 
best suppress disorders. The promptness of the Governer 
and the Adjutant-General had so far prevented violence 
and bloodshed. ' 

Early in the morning of the 25th, the Ninth Regiment,, 
accompanied by General Carr and staff, proceeded by 
special train to West Albany, where there had been a 
sort of blockade. It had been feared from the opera- 
tions of the previous night that an attempt would be 
made to prevent the despatch of freight and other busi- 



266 



THE GREAT STRIKES. 



ness at that point. It was well-known that the men who 
crossed the river at East Albany, to prevent the passage 
of the Ninth Regiment, on Tuesday evening, were only 
too ready to act in concert with any malcontents in that 
vicinity, and, moreover, a mass meeting of strikers had 
adjourned to meet there at nine o'clock in the morning. 
West Albany was considered a vantage ground, and 
there it was expected the most hostile demonstration 
would be made ; therefore, the concentration of troops 
at that point was decided to be of vital importance. 

General Carr and Colonel Hitchcock had a council of 
war during the night, and decided to occupy and hold 
West Albany depot. Accordingly, the Ninth, after 
sleeping on the soft side of pine planks in Martin's 
-Hall, turned out, unrefreshed, at daybreak, and formed 
on Broadway. The men had a good breakfast, marched 
to the depot and embarked. The Regiment, with Gen- 
eral Carr and staff, arrived, at West Albany before seven 
o'clock. The train was stopped and the men alighted, 
and by column it was countermarched along to the 
bridge and crossed to the depot, half a mile distant. 
Beneath the bridge the Ninth rested. General Carr 
made his headquarters at the railroad station. 

The Tenth Regiment, of Albany, four hundred men, 
arrived soon after, commanded by Colonel Amasa J. 
Parker, Jr. 

The first train moved west at a quarter to twelve a. m., 
and about the time the Citizen's Guard, of Troy, ap- 
peared, as did also crowds of sulky people. These, how- 
ever, did not interfere with transit, and during the day 
grains went east and west without let orhinderance. 

Early in the afternoon the pickets south came in, and 



AWAY FROM THE METROPOLIS. 267 

reported riotous demonstrations in that direction. In- 
stantly the Ninth was in line, moving down the track. 
General Carr and Colonel Hitchock were in advance, 
and Carr's son was the sentry on the left front, where 
some excited men were assembled. A slight movement 
of some of these fellows led young Carr to think that 
his father's life was menaced. 

" Stop," said he to the men, " the first man that at- 
tempts to hurt him," pointing to his father, " I will shoot 
iiim on the spot." 

He brought his piece to his hip as he spoke, and the 
men quickly got out of his way, whereat the young 
hero chuckled. 

Meanwhile Colonel Hitchcock's and Parker's men had 
cleared the bridge and roadways without difficulty, and 
the rioters south retired without doing any mischief. 

An attempt to fire the railway bridge over the JNev- 
ersink river, situated one-half mile east of the Erie Depot, 
in Port Jervis, was made on the night of the 24th. 
Precautionary measures were taken by the Company at the 
commencemet of the disturbances, and an increased num- 
ber of watchmen were stationed at the bridge. This fact 
undoubtedly saved it from destruction, as a five-gallon 
.can of kerosene was discovered under the bridge, placed 
in such a position that its ignition would have carried 
the flames to the woodwork of the bridge. 

It was supposed that the incendiaries became alarmed 
before the completion of their arrangements, and think- 
ing they were discovered, fled, leaving the oil behind 
them. The guards at that point were increased, and 
there was no further trouble. 

A spirit of maliciousness developed itself that was 



268 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

not manifested at the outbreak of the troubles. Rails 
were torn up, and obstructions of every conceivable 
kind placed on the track. Along the Delaware Division 
of the Erie, several attempts to wreck trains w T ere made,, 
but additional watchmen were employed, and but little 
damage was done. An extra engine was despatched 
ahead of trains to see if the track was all right, and they 
ran at a less rate of speed than usual. 

On the engines of the trains passing through the tur- 
bulent section of the country, sharpshooters were placed y 
and they were ready for any emergency. At all stations 
a, force of Sheriff's deputies were on hand on the arrival 
of trains, ready to check any riotous movement. 

On the 25th, a hundred firemen on the Easton and 
Delaware divisions of the Erie were ready and anxious 
for a strike ; an equal, or perhaps a larger number, were 
opposed to one; more than this, they refused to give it 
the least encouragement, asserting that regardless of the 
action of the Brotherhood, or of any other class of em- 
ployes, they would continue to attend to their duty. Of 
those belonging to the Order a majority were undoubt- 
edly in favor of a strike. The Brotherhood met every 
night, and though the men were pledged to secrecy, and 
every possible effort was made to prevent the railway 
officials from obtaining accurate reports from the organi- 
zation, disclosing the result of their deliberations, 
the meetings became disorderly in the extreme, violent 
language was used, and recriminations and charges of 
unfaithfulness to the Order were of common occurrence. 
Representatives from abroad made inflammatory speeches 
urging the Brotherhood to action, but the more prudent 
ones saw the folly of striking, unless there was unity 
among the men. 



AWAY FROM THE METROPOLIS. 269 

Donahue, the leader of the strikers at Hornellsville, 
and -five others were arrested on the 25th, and placed in 
irons, and the strikers were much depressed. 

A settlement of the difficulties seemed near at hand. 
The strikers made propositions to Receiver Jewett, 
agreeing to ^surrender, conditioned only that they be 
granted immunity from punishment for the mischief 
they had done. This the railroad officials declined, as 
they were determined to make no concessions, and had 
resolved to prosecute to the end every violator of the 
law. But this determination was subsequently changed. 
Through the' earnestness and zeal of the attorneys for 
the strikers, the Company was induced to accept the 
proposition of the strikers, as the very best thing that 
could be done, and on that basis the Hornellsville 
troubles were disposed of. Business was resumed on the 
Erie at Hornellsville, at six o'clock on the morning of 
the 26th. The yard was rapidly cleared of the blockade 
of trains ; the late strikers were working with a will, 
and the leaders declared that their settlement would be 
the death-blow to the strikers on the other trunk roads. 
Regular passenger trains left Hornellsville for JSTew 
York, Buffalo, and Dunkirk almost on time. The mana- 
gers of the strike there were in communication with 
those of the strikes elsewhere, and were using their best 
efforts to bring about a discontinuance of their rebellion 
against their respective companies. General Howard 
and General Superintendent Bower left for New York. 
Assistant Receiver Sherman, Chief Engineer Chanute, 
and Mr. MacFarland, the Company's Attorney, were still 
at Hornellsville, completing details of the settlement, 
and directing the opening of business. The utmost 



270 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

good feeling prevailed ; only a few chronic malcontents, 
who had nothing to lose, and everything to win by the 
strike, were expressing any dissatisfaction with the re- 
sult. 

The Seventy-fourth Regiment, of Buffalo, and the 
Fifty-fourth, of Rochester, were ordered home. The mili- 
tary guard was removed from the Company's property, 
and the employes had full charge. The Twenty-third 
Regiment was awaiting orders. Bands of music paraded 
the streets amid popular demonstrations of rejoicing over 
the result. The amicable settlement was due to the 
sound counsel of Horace Bemis and Miles "W. Hawley, 
attorneys of the late strikers, which more than anything 
led to the conciliatory and magnanimous spirit in which 
their propositions were met by the Company. Trains 
were soon running regularly between New York and Sal- 
amanca, and Dunkirk. 

A train with the Seventy-fourth Regiment on board,, 
went to Buffalo. General Superintendent Bo wen and 
Attorney MacFarland left on the same train. Assistant 
General Superintendent Chanute remained in charge at 
Hornellsville. 

The troops still remained in camp at West Albany, to 
the number of twelve hundred, on the 27th, but the 
strike was at an end. The strikers held another meet- 
ing in Capital Park during the evening. It was chiefly 
remarkable for the earnestness with which the speakers 
denounced the outside element that had brought them 
into disrepute. After appointing an Executive Commit- 
tee to transact all the future business of the strikers, it 
was resolved not to hold any more public meetings. 
The petition, which the Mayor was to have circulated for 



AWAY FROM THE METROPOLIS. 271 

signatures, asking rates paid before the reduction made 
on July 1, was not circulated. At the meeting held the 
evening of the 27th, the chairman of the Committee ap- 
pointed to look after the petition, when asked what had 
been done, could not explain why no action had been 
taken The shops were still closed at West Albany, 
with the exception of the Wagner Drawing Room Car 
Shops, but the Railroad officials said the road could be 
operated for six months without employing a mechanic- 
Governor Robinson, accompanied by Adjutant-General 
Townsend and General Tracey, reviewed the troops in 
camp at West Albany, on the 27th. The next day he 
reviewed them on Pearl street, Albany. They did not 
again return to camp. Assistant Adjutant-General Tay- 
lor figured up the cost of moving and maintaining the 
troops in the State since the commencement of the 
strike. He placed the expense at about two hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. The allowance under the law 
is at the rate of sixteen dollars a mouth. The Ninth 
Regiment left on tho 28th for New York. It was not 
deemed wise to move all the troops away at once. It 
was apprehended that serious trouble might result if 
such a course was pursued. Some stones were thrown 
at a train on the 27th, in a cut, near Albany, but no one 
was hurt. 

During the evening of the 27th, orders were issued 
from the Adjutant-General's office, to the Division Com- 
manders, to disband their forces. The strike was re- 
garded as at an end. No further trouble was anticipated 
in New York State, and none occurred. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 



Onward Through Ohio. 



Events in the Buckeye State — An Ugly Mob at Columbus — Marching 
Around and "Shutting Manufactories Down " — Festive Firemen 
at Collingswood — Marching Though Zanesville — The Breeze at 
Newark — Cincinnati's Fortunate Escape — A Mayor Harmless but 
Wise— He Talks Kindly to the Strikers— And They Hear Him 
Gladly— Trouble at Toledo. 



At Cincinnati, an uneasy, restless feeling was preva- 
lent among the officers of the railroads centering there, 
although no strike had been yet inaugurated, on the 
20th. The Ohio and Mississippi men were waiting for 
the pay-car, which passed East on the road the following 
Monday, when they struck. The car started from St. 
Louis, and that was where trouble was first anticipated. 
The Ohio and Mississippi Railway is the Western outlet 
of the Baltimore and Ohio. On the Marrietta and Cin- 
cinnati road, the intermediate connection of the Balti- 
more and Ohio, no trouble occurred, and the personal 
popularity of General Superintendent Peabody was very 
great. The Erie connection there — from Cincinnati, 
Hamilton and Dayton road — notified their men of a re- 
duction, but on the demand of the employes, the order 
of reduction was subsequently rescinded. There had 
been no trouble on the Pan-Handle road west of Pitts- 
burgh. The Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington 
Railroad Compan ynotified their men of a reduction of ten 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 273 

rper cent., to take effect immediately, but the order was not 
carried out. 

On the 22d, the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton 
Railroad Company acceded to the demand of their em- 
ployes, and thus withdrew a large number of men from 
the forces of the strikers. 

The Little Miami Railway Company did the [same 
thing. The action taken by the managers of these rail- 
road companies was of immense service to the authori- 
ties in preserving the piece and upholding the laws in 
Cincinnati. The withdrawal of so many men from the 
strike, cured the enthusiasm of a vast number of 
sympathizers. The moral effect was of incalculable 
value to the friends of law and order at that critical 
juncture. It turned the scales against riots in Cincin- 
nati. 

The situation on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad as- 
sumed a more serious aspect on the 23d. All trains, 
both passenger and freight, were blocked. Only postal 
<sars were allowed to leave the yards. Strikers were 
posted at Storr's Station, a short distance from Cincinnati, 
.and determined no train should leave that city. 

A deputation waited upon Superintendent Graves 
that day, but received no satisfactory assurance. Nine 
-engines and trains of freight cars were abandoned along 
the road. 

Mayor Moore issued a proclamation, wherein, after 
reciting the accounts of disturbances at Pittsburgh and 
■other points, he commended the example of the citizens 
of Cincinnati as creditable to her people, and felt assured 
it would result to the General and individual good of all 
citizens of Cincinnati. 

18 



274 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The serious nature of the difficulties between the rail- 
road companies and their employes induced Governor 
Young, of Ohio, to issue a proclamation, which he did,, 
the document reading as follows : 

Executive Department. ) 
Columbus, Ohio, July 25, 1877. \ 

To the People oe Ohio: — 

Owing to the'troubles existing between Railroad Com- 
panies and their employes, great excitement exists 
throughout the State. Of this unf ortnnate state of affairs 
lawless and disreputable persons are taking advantage,, 
and endangering life and property. The civil authori- 
ties, State, county and municipal, as well as the military, 
must and will everywhere exert their power to enforce 
the law in every respect. The good name of our people 
demands that this shall be done, and in no other way 
can the order which is absolutely necessary to public 
and private safety be maintained. 

To avert all danger, and in order to successfully meet 
all resistance to thorough execution of the law, I hereby 
call on law-abiding men in all our cities, towns and vil- 
lages to tender their services to their respective civil 
authorities, and under their direction and control organ- 
ize themselves into a volunteer police force sufficiently- 
strong to overawe the lawless elements. 

I confidently expect all good men will respond 
promptly and cheerfully to this call. 

Thomas L Young, Governor. 

At Cincinnati, on the 25th, no grain was moved from 
the elevators, and several manufactories had stopped 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 275 

work in consequence of inability to ship their goods. 
The employes of the Wabash Railway at that point did 
not join the strike. 

At a large meeting of railroad men held the night of 
the 25th, a desire was expressed by the speakers that 
railroad and all other property should be protected. No 
attempts were made to interfere with the workmen in fac- 
tories, mills, &c, but apprehensions were felt that such 
an action might be resorted to during the trouble. 

Order was restored permanently in Cincinnati in a 
comparatively brief time after the first manifestations of 
the strike. The action of the railroad employes in ten- 
dering their services to protect railroad property and 
secure the moving of passenger trains, left malicious 
abettors bent upon extreme measures without a footing. 
Passenger trains were sent out on the Hamilton and 
Dayton Railroad, guarded by railroad men, each train 
having four or six well armed men on the engine, and 
two or four on the platforms. The Miami passenger 
trains arrived and departed on time as usual. Another 
evidence of the wisdom of making concessions. Trains 
on the Cincinnati and Marietta road also run regularly. 

No through freight trains were moved on any of the 
roads. Passenger trains were uninterrupted on all the 
roads running into Cincinnati, except the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi. 

The railroad men were generally among the best friends 
of law and order at Cincinnati. Many trains, both 
freight and passenger, were running, and only on the 
Ohio and Mississippi was there complete blockade. 
There was a fortunate and complete absence of interfer- 
ence by the Federal authorities. A feature of the close 



276 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

of the strike — or rather the failure to get up one there- 
was the outpouring of tramps, noticed by all incoming 
railroaders. The walkers had evidently found that it 
was healthier for their class elsewhere. 

At Collinswood, on the Lake Shore road, in Ohio, on 
the 25th, a large body of strikers had gathered, and the 
men were in constant communication with their fellows 
in Buffalo and Cleveland. Everything was quiet and 
orderly, but the men seemed to be determined to carry 
their point. For miles up on the side tracks, freight 
cars stood as closely together as possible, and much of 
the freight of a perishable nature spoiled. In certain 
instances permission was given parties in Cleveland and 
elsewhere to cart it away, but subseqently a resolution 
was passed that no more freight be interfered with. The 
feeling was very bitter against nearly all the officers of 
the road. A conference was had between the committee 
of the strikers and General Manager, John Newell. Mr. 
Newell told the men that he could do nothing directly 
for them, but that he would use his influence with 
President Vanderbilt in their favor. Among the men, 
there was a certain element becoming very impatient at 
the delay, and the question was often asked, with con- 
siderable earnestness, how much longer they were ex- 
pected to restrain themselves peaceably. The three 
hundred car loads of cattle and hogs were all unloaded 
and cared for in pens. Meanwhile the men were devoting 
themselves to social festivities. Dances were held 
in the station house, the men designating those who 
were to act as ladies by tying handkerchiefs around their 
arms. The ladies of the village gave the men a pic- 
nic dinner under the trees of the beautiful grove near 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 277 

the station, after which a large number of speeches were 
made by the men, all of whom counseled moderation, 
and an entire abandonment of the saloons. It was held 
that public sympathy and support would continue with 
them just so long as they behaved like men. 

During the morning of the 23d, at Zanesville, Ohio, 
two thousand men assembled in front of the new hotel 
being built under contract for J. B. Townsend, and 
commanded the men working on the building to quit 
work, which they did ; and they also assembled in front 
of the court-house, where the crowd was addressed by 
Henry Blandy, who counseled moderation, and told 
them to look to the Democratic Convention for consola- 
tion. After the spaech large crowds marched to the dif- 
ferent manufacturing places in the city, compelling the 
men to quit work. They also waited on Townsend & 
Burgess, proprietors of the street railway, compelling 
them to haul off the street cars. Mayor McGowan re- 
quested that saloons be closed. No further violence 
was attempted. In all, about tifty manufacturing estab- 
lishments were forced to close. 

Two consultation meetings were held by the Lake 
Shore Kailway strikers in Cleveland, on the 25th, and 
their organization further perfected. It was decided 
not to molest the workmen of the Cleveland, Columbus 
Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad, who had resumed, 
nor to interfere with workmen in the manufactories of the 
city. Special precautions were taken to prevent the tramps 
and other persons having no right there, from joining the 
strikers in any way. Great care was takeu to protect 
railway property. A few passenger trains on the Cleve- 
land and Pittsburgh were run some distance down the 



278 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

line. Delegations of Lake Shore men twice talked with 
General Manager Newell, without result. 

The Lake Shore shop men held meetings, and adopted 
measures to secure the co-operation of all the shops on 
the line between Buffalo and Cleveland, and were sus- 
tained in it by the shop hands of the Cleveland, Cincin- 
nati, Columbus and Indianopolis Railroadmen, who 
were at work on a compromise. The trackmen were 
firm, and fully sustained the shops. Strikers from To- 
ledo and Cleveland closed the Newark shops on the 25th 
of July. 

A large open-air meeting was held at Crestline, Ohio, 
on the evening of the 25th, which was addresssd by the 
Mayor, Manuel Wray, of Mansfield, and others. The 
addresses were full of sympathy for the strikers in their 
just demands, and extolling their orderly conduct, while 
deploring the stagnation brought on the country. One 
train a day only, was run over the Fort Wayne Road 
after that date. 

The railroad strike caused some excitement on the 
Cincinnati, Mount Vernon and Columbus Railroad. The 
through freight trains were abandoned. The railroad 
bridge at Killbuck, five miles south of Millersburg, 
Ohio, was fired by tramps, causing some delay, but not 
much damage. The employes were very anxious for the 
restoration of their wages prior to June 1st. 

About noon on the 25th, the railroad strikers at Col- 
umbus, Ohio, to the number of three hundred, went to 
the rolling-mill, and compelled the employes to suspend 
work. They also went to many other factories, the em- 
ployes of which joined the strikers as they went along. 
The entire crowd also had dinners with them, and to the 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 279 

m umber of two thousand, they proceeded to the Union 
Depot, where they dined. There was no other violence. 
General Manager Caldwell, of the Pittsburgh, Cincin- 
nati and St. Louis road, had ordered all shops closed, 
and the suspension of all business, except such as was 
necessary to keep the passenger trains moving. No in - 
terferenee was offered such trains. 

No passenger trains left on the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad that day. The Hocking Yalley trackmen quit 
the morning of the 25th. The same evening the shop- 
men joined in the strike. Quiet reigned at the Newark 
yards, which was under the control of the troops. No 
attempt was made to move trains on account of the 
blockaded condition of the tracks. Passenger trains were 
also delayed. Strikers were distributed at different 
points along the road. 

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis striking fire- 
men and brakemen were emphatic in denouncing the ac- 
tion of the mob in closing up business establishments. 
While they were firm in the purpose of maintaining a 
strike, and preventing the running of freight trains, 
they utterly repudiated all riotous, incendiary, and law- 
less proceedings, and promised to do all in their power 
to bring the rioters to justice, and prevent a repetition of 
their excesses. The strikers were thoroughly organized, 
.and determined not to yield. They declared that they 
could not live upon their present compensation, and the 
men were discharged if they created a debt. The 
; strikers resolved not to countenance any drunkenness or 
violence by any of their number. 

At a meeting of the Lake Shore men, at Cleveland, 
on the 26th, a Committee from the Cleveland, Colum- 



280 



THE GREAT STRIKES. 



bus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis shops was present, and" 
asked whether it was the wish of the strikers that they 
continue work on the terms offered by President Deve- 
reux. This Committee further offered to pool their 
earnings for the assistance of other strikers, if thought 
necessary. A vote of thanks was passed by the strikers 
for this offer, after which it was voted that the Cleve- 
land, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis men keep 
on with their work. A Committee was then appointed 
to visit Norwalk, Buffalo and Erie, and confer with the 
men there. The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and. 
Indianapolis, and the Atlantic and the Great Western 
roads were accordingly doing their full business all 
through the strikes. 

The following proposition was circulated, and gener- 
ally signed, by the striking railroad men, at Columbus,, 
Ohio, on the 27th of July : 

If we should succeed in getting our demands, we 
should like to know if our fellow railroad men through- 
out the land will go in with us to agree to deprive them- 
selves of a small sum, say thirty -five or fifty cents per 
month, to pay the citizens of Pittsburgh for their losses 
in the late fire, caused by the hot-headedness of parties 
not directly interested in the strike, the whole to be 
placed in the hands of the United States Treasurer, with 
the privilege of using the same at a small rate of inter- 
est, and all over and above the sum sufficient to pay the 
losses of said citizens to be divided among the railway 
reading-rooms throughout the country. 

Hoping you will cause this to be circulated through- 
out the country, we have the honor to be your most obe- 
dient servants, 

(Signed.) Commotee. 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 281 

Governor Young notified the military at Columbus, 
and four companies at Newark, on the 27th, to go home, 
but hold themselves in readiness to be again called into 
service at a moment's notice. One company was left at 
Newark. The Sheriff of Pike County telegraphed from 
Waverly for militia, and the Adjutant-General ordered a 
company from Zanesville to Waverly. The call for 
troops was occasioned by a strike on the Narrow-gauge 
railway. 

A meeting of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis 
Railroad employes, Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Cen- 
tral division, was held at Goodale Park, Columbus, at 
which resolutions were adopted reaffirming the resolu- 
tions adopted at a meeting held on the 24th, wherein the 
restoration of wages of 1874 was demanded, and a de- 
termination was expressed not to resume work until the 
demand was complied with. 

The strikers themselves, except in a few isolated cases, 
refrained from indulgence in strong drink, and were 
the upholders of good order and the law, in every 
particular, except to the running of trains. Taken as a 
measure of the character of men who run the American 
railways, the strikers revealed them as a class far above 
the average of workingmen in this country or in Europe. 
Some of them betrayed the possession of remarkable 
executive ability. 

During the morning of the 27th, at Cincinnati, when 
a train was about to start on the Hamilton and Dayton 
road, a crowd gathered and prepared to prevent the train 
from going out. There were quite a number of the 
would-be rioters, but word was sent to the special police ; 
a party of them came upon the scene, and the crowd 
vanished from the vicinity. 



282 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Later the same day, a striking example was offered of 
the effect of resolution in an individual in times of ex- 
citement and peril. A freight train was moving out on 
the Dayton Short Line, when a crowd gathered and 
stopped it, forcing the engineer, by threats, to bring the 
train to a stand-still. At this juncture a looker-on, an 
ex-railroad man, became irritated beyond control, and 
resolved to send that train out himself. He asked the 
engineer if he wanted to go out, and was answered in 
the affirmative. Then he stepped forward, a revolver in 
Iris hand, and announced to the crowd that he would 
kill the first man offering to stop the train again. The 
train left the depot safely with only that one audacious 
man with a revolver as a guard to protect it. 

The strikers at Cincinnati became the worst foes of 
all against the roughs, who had joined in their meetings. 
A curious circumstance added to the animosity. At one 
of the meetings held, the thieves picked the pockets of 
the strikers, as well as of other people; a prominent 
engineer lost a fine gold watch. This circumstance 
opened his eyes to the difference between a striker and a 
plunderer. 

At a meeting of the Hamilton and Dayton employes, 
held on the 27th, considerable confusion arose among 
them, as to whether they were all to be considered 
strikers. It was certain that freight trains went out on 
the Dayton Short Line, the Hamilton and^Dayton, and 
the Marietta lines. Upon the other roads, with the ex- 
ception of the Ohio and Mississippi, the passenger trains 
went out, and arrangements were made to allow of at 
least a limited handling of freight. The strikers on 
different roads showed a want of inclination to exercise 
arbitrary control in the matter. 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 283 

The pressure of public opinion at Cincinnati was in 
favor of a resumption of the old higher wages paid railroad 
employes ; but the sentiment was also quite general that 
trains should be again moving regularly before terms 
were made. Cincinnati held herself more independent 
in expressing opinions in this respect, than some other 
•cities, since there was no danger of famine, the river 
route and three railroad lines remaining open for the 
transportation of breadstuffs, and the coal supply being 
abundant. 

At one of the depots in Cincinnati, while the police 
were pushing back the crowd which pressed forward 
too closely upon the track, one big burly fellow, half-resist- 
ing, exclaimed : " Well, if we can't look on here, we can 
go and burn something anyhow." He was promptly taken 
to the station, and others, who ventured to express opinions 
similar to his, were treated as summarily. The incident 
is given merely to illustrate the sentiment that prevailed, 
with the confidence coming from a well organized pro- 
tective force, and the disposition that existed to mingle 
no maudlin sympathy with a sense of justice towards all. 

At ten o'clock on the morning of the 26th of July, a 
large crowd, composed of laborers, stevedores, and all 
classes of workingmen, assembled at the United States 
Hotel, on Ottawa street, Toledo, Ohio. A committee 
was appointed to draft resolutions expression the senti- 
ment of those present. The committee reported resolu- 
tions, a That every laboring man and mechanic should ask 
reasonable recompense for his labor, on this basis : Me- 
chanics from $2.50 to $3.00 per day, and laborers $1.50 
per day ; that every laboring man and mechanic join the 
railroad men who had struck; that their object was 



284 THE GKEAT STRIKES. 

alone to obtain certain rights wrenched from them by 
the combination of capital, and that as soon as their 
object was attained, then the organized movement was to 
be abandoned, but not till then ; that, in order to secure all 
persons and their property from violence, as well as the 
protection of themselves, they recommended the appoint- 
ment of a Committee of Safety, to consist of one mem- 
ber from each branch of each labor union, which had or 
might hereafter join them in the movement." 

Mayor William W. Jones, being called upon for a 
speech, responded by saying that he had been requested 
to make some remarks to the assemblage, who were there 
to ascertain what they were going to do in the present 
situation of things. For them to march around and ask 
that' wages be increased to a fair living price, was all 
very proper. He was there as the representative of all 
classes. He was elected Mayor of the city by all 
classes. As such an officer it was his duty to see that 
the rights of both classes were respected, and it was 
the duty of all to preserve their own self-respect. The 
troubles which were upon them were phases of the 
great labor question which always troubled and would 
be a puzzle to the best minds in the land. As to 
the cities, the trouble was that there were too many la- 
borers. Excessive competition in labor had forced the 
prices down below the living standard. But the poor 
man cannot be driven to the country, for he has no farm,, 
and perhaps cannot find work there if he try ever so 
hard. It is this condition of things that the railroads 
have taken advantage of, to put down the laborers, 
until they had taken the matter of redress into their 
own hands. No doubt that the railroads would have to 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 285 

yield to the cause of the strikers. They would have to 
come down. It should be borne in mind that an un- 
yielding position on their part, such as was reported of 
a railroad president, (Mr. Yanderbilt), would result in 
defeating all demands for an increase of wages, and they 
might as well go about some other business at once. 
'Now he was opposed to them going about in a body that 
day to make men quit work. He said that nobody was 
going to starve as long as he was Mayor of the city. 
There was no conflict between labor and capital, and 
there was a wide sympathy with the strikers and labor 
inadequately paid. It was a God-given right to every 
man to have employment that he may have food for his 
wife and children. But all classes had rights in the 
community, to be respected, and there was a liability in 
excitement to commit acts which they would be sorry 
for. As the Chief Magistrate of the city it was his duty 
to frown down all lawlessness. He therefore hoped that 
in whatever demonstrations they might make, there 
would be no excesses, and that they would go gently 
about it. 

At the conclusion of the Mayor's remarks, the crowd 
formed a line, it being announced that they would first 
go the whole length of Water street to the Pennsylvania 
depot, and then through the manufacturing districts, 
notifying all the establishments to stop work at once. 
This plan was followed out, and the crowd proceeded 
from place to place, gaining strength as it proceeded, in 
ordering the employes of lumber yards, mills and 
founderies to stop work. 

A call for a mass meeting of citizens, at eight o'clock 
in the evening, was issued by the Mayor, early in the 



286 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

day, and in pursuance thereof, an immense crowd assem- 
bled in the market place at that hour. Mayor Jones- 
presided, and after addresses by several citizens, a resolu- 
tion was adopted, calling on the Mayor to appoint a 
committee to consist of twenty persons from each ward,. 
to take measures for the preservation of peace and the 
protection of property. The meeting was composed 
largely of the discontented element, representatives of 
which took possession of the stand and proceeded to ad- 
dress the crowd, and the meeting finally broke up in 
confusion and disodrer. 

At ten o'clock in the evening the city was compar- 
atively quiet, though the excitement among all classes 
was intense. The elevators were all closed. The banks 
declined any advance on bills of lading, and the com- 
mercial as well as the manufacturing business of the 
city was at a standstill. 

A committee of twenty five employes of the Wabash 
road arrived there from Fort Wayne and Lafayette, and 
held a consultation with Manager Hopkins. Mr. Hop- 
kins informed them that he was willing to pay what was 
reasonable. The next day the city had beome very quiet. 
Saloons remained closed, in accordance with the order 
issued by the Mayor. The police, the day before, arrested 
James Turner, the acknowledged leader of the Wednes- 
day movement, and lodged him in the county jail- 
Other arrests followed rapidly, and at Toledo, most of 
the ringleaders of the mob were secured. About five 
hundred prominet citizens met at the Court House,. 
Toledo, Thursday morning, and were supplied with 
arms and ammunition. Business was generally sus- 
pended during the forenoon, and members of leading 



ONWARD THROUGH OHIO. 28T 

firms throughout the city roported for duty at the Court 
House. Mayor Jones issued a proclamation in which he 
recited the fact that certain riotous demonstrations had 
been made in the streets, interfering with citizens who 
were engaged in lawful occupation, for the purpose of 
interrupting the work, and damaging business; there- 
fore the Mayor of the city, warned all persons engaged 
in exciting riotous proceedings, or interfering with labor 
or business, to desist from such practices, or from congre- 
gating in crowds upon the streets to discuss the situation 
or promote disorder ; and that in order more fully to 
promote a peaceful situation, the police were directed to 
close the places where ardent spirits were sold, and to ar- 
rest all persons found violating the law, or in any manner 
intefering with the rights of the citizens or the laborers. 
He gave the assurance that all law-abiding and all labor- 
ing men, and those employing laborers, should be pro- 
tected in their lawful occupation to the extent of ex- 
hausting the civil powers of the constituted authorities 
of the city. 

The expiring spasm of the great strikes in Ohio, 
occured at Columbus on the 28th of July, when the 
Mayor, at the head of a squad of twenty police, marched 
to the freight yard for the purpose of sending out a train. 
At the depot they were met by three companies of mili- 
tary, who were passing through the city on their way 
home from Newark. They were invited to remain in 
the city until the train went out, which they did. 

The train was made up in the midst of an immense 
crowd of people. The strikers stood around and put 
forward every inducement to the crew to abandon the 
train, offering the engineer one hundred dollars in cash^ 
to quit the engine, but to no effect. 



288 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

No violence whatever was used, and no attempt made 
to uncouple cars. The train left about eleven o'clock. 
Three strikers were arrested earlier in the day for run- 
ning an engine from the yard into the roundhouse. 

An attempt was made about three o'clock in the even- 
ing, to send out a train on the Indianapolis division of 
the Pan Handle. Strikers coaxed the engineer and fire- 
man off, and ran the engine into the roundhouse, and put 
out the fire. Military were guarding the train. In the 
meanwhile, the engine was again fired up, and another 
attempt made to get the train out. Strikers switched 
gondolas on the track between the engine and train 
while the engine was backing down. The obstructions 
were removed under a guard of soldiers, and the train 
finally got out. Several shots were fired at random 
between the soldiers and the crowd, but no harm resulted. 
An alarm bell was sounded and the citizen guards called 
•out, but soon returned to headquarters. There was much 
excitement, but no violence that night. Citizens' com- 
panies, well armed, guarded depots, railroad bridges, 
roundhouses, and other buildings. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Insolence in Indiana. 



The Strike Inaugurated at Fort Wayne — Trackmen and Trainmen — 
Indianapolis Taken In — Terre Haute Yields to the Popular Up- 
rising — Miners at Brazil — Mayor Cavin of Indianapolis Indisposed 
to Interfere — Governor Williams not Certain that it is any of his 
Concern Except to Keep the Peace — United States Judges and 
Bankrupt Railroad Receivers — Freaks of the Stiikers — They Cap- 
ture a Railroad. 



The strikes commencing in the East, moved west with 
great rapidity. On Saturday, July 21st, at eight o'clock 
in the evening, the Great Strikes were inaugurated in 
Indiana, at Fort Wayne, by the employes of the Pitts- 
burg, Ft. Wayne and Chicago "Railway. Freight trains 
bound west, scheduled to leave at that hour, were made 
up, when brakemen and firemen refused to go on duty. 
Engineers and conductors declined to take trains out 
without any crews, and officials were unable to obtain 
substitutes,' and all freight business on that road was sud- 
denly stopped. 

At Indianapolis, on the 22nd, a private meeting was 
held by train men, in which the Pan-Handle men partic- 
pated, and the time agreed to strike was fixed for twelve 
o'clock. At the same time information came that the 
only other available route to Pittsburgh, via the Bee 
Line, was likely to be closed, the Bee Line men having 
resolved to strike at once. 

At a meeting of railroad officials, held at Iudianapolis, 

19 



290 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Sunday night, at the office of the Chief of Police, it was 
resolved to do nothing. In case of a general strike 
deemed inevitable, the proposition was to attempt to run 
no trains out of the city, thus throwing the onus of stop- 
ping all travel and traffic on the strikers, and at the same- 
time avoiding the collision which would ensue, were the 
strikers' places to be filled by new men. It was pro- 
posed, also, to run all railroad property into the round- 
houses at Indianapolis, guard the roundhouses, and then 
notify the general Government that as soon as sufficient 
aid was furnished, an attempt would be made to re- 
sume trains. This course was thought to be rendered 
absolutely necessary by the situation. It was openly ad- 
mitted by the authorities that they could not hope to 
contend with the possible mob. The police force was 
insignificant, and the militia companies not to be relied 
upon. Adjutant-General Russ stated that no more than 
five thousand could be raised in the entire State. 

The morning of the 24th of July, affairs at Fort 
Wayne assumed a more threatening aspect than at any 
time since the strike began. About eight o'clock, a large 
force of strikers visited the extensive shops of the Pitts- 
burgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, where one 
thousand men w T ere employed, and insisted that they 
should be closed up. The men said they would not stop 
work until they received orders from the officials, but 
they were threatened with force, and succumbed. The 
shops were at once closed up and the fires put out. 
Committees then went east and west on hand-cars, and 
induced the section and|trackmen for a considerable dis- 
tance to stop work. These men came to the city that 
afternoon, and added r a very ugly element to the crowd 



INSOLENCE IN INDIANA. 291 

already assembled. All the railroad shops and manufac- 
tories in the city were compelled to shut down. 

During the afternoon the strikers held a large meet- 
ing, and made exorbitant demands of the railroad 
officials, stating that they would not resume work until 
the force was replaced as it existed prior to June 1, both 
as to number and rate of wages, and insisted upon the 
abandonment of all classifications in the rank and pay of 
engineers. They also adopted an address to the strikers, 
which was printed and circulated, and had a good effect. 
The tone of the address was admirable, coming, as it did, 
from strikers. They said that news from Pitts- 
burgh, and other railroad points, of terrible sac- 
rifices of life and property, was something that 
should be justly considered by all of them. They 
were gratified to know that a very small percentage of 
strikers were taking an active part in the great and ter- 
rible destruction of the Company's property, but that it 
was mostly done by outsiders, who, by such acts, believed 
themselves practically expressing the wishes of the 
strikers. Their friends and co-laborers hereby desired to 
express the earnest hope, and would give their assistance, 
in an endeavor by every means to protect the property 
of the Company in Fort Wayne. They claimed the 
strikers were perfectly able to bring about a compromise 
without violence, and to prevent others from destroying 
the property of the Company. To destroy property 
would positively not remedy the matter, but, on the con- 
trary, a slow restoration of better times would accomplish 
much. They were conjured to work justly, honorably, 
quietly, and thoughtfully, and allow no disinterested per- 
son to meddle with the property they had helped to create, 



i 



292 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

and which stood as everlasting monuments to their skill, 
peseverance, and energy. " Do as you would be done 
hy, and do not act in too great haste." If the Company 
had been unjust in its demands upon them, let them set- 
tle it as peaceably as they could, without allowing the 
destruction of railroad institutions, that to a very great 
extent constituted the future prosperity, life, comfort, 
and pride of the city. 

The City Council of Fort Wayne met in special ses- 
sion in the evening, and called on the strikers to disperse. 
An extra police force of two hundred men was ap- 
pointed and sworn in, and all saloons were ordered to 
close. The city was quiet, but trouble was feared before 
morning, by reason of the news just received from 
Pittsburgh, that all efforts to adjust the difficulties had 
proved futile. 

Wabash freight trains left as usual, although their 
crews had announced that they would not take them out. 
The employes of that road had decided not to strike, or, 
at least, wait further developments before taking action. 

The employes of the Yandalia Railroad waited upon 
President McKeen, at Terre Haute, in the forenoon, to 
get his answer to the proposition made Sunday, for a 
restoration of their wages, the increase demanded being 
fifteen per cent. Mr. McKeen responded that he should 
have to consult his directors and the officials of other 
lines with which the Yandalia is in alliance, and said he 
would give a final answer Tuesday morning at nine 
o'clock. Meanwhile all the freight trains were stopped, 
and only the passenger traffic continued. The strike 
began at twelve o'clock, Monday the 23d. Passenger 
trains were run as usual, but no attempt was made to 



INSOLENCE IN INDIANA. 293 

run freight trains. The strikers included all the shop 
men. The machine shops at Terre Haute were closed 
and the tires put out. Between five hundred and six 
hundred men turned out. They resolved not to drink 
any intoxicating liquors while on a strike. 

The Indianapolis and St. Louis men followed the 
Vandalia men, and no freight trains were moved after 
twelve o'clock between Indianapolis and St. Louis. No 
violence or destruction of property attended these 
movements. 

At Indianapolis, on the 24th, the strikers took posses- 
sion of the Union Depot and tracks at midnight, and 
would allow only the postal cars to leave the city. Pas- 
senger travel on all the roads running out of that city, 
without exception, was stopped. The Indianapolis, 
Cincinnati and Lafayette, the Indianapolis, Bloom- 
ington and Western, and the Indianapolis, Peru and 
Chicago Roads had not yet joined in the strike, but were 
prevented from working. Governor Williams and Mayor 
Cavin both declined to interfere, except to suppress or 
prevent violence. Trains brought in only a mail car 
containing passengers, baggage, and express goods. The 
coaches were left outside. 

The Yandalia officials attempted to place a train in the 
depot, but were compelled to send it back to the yards. 

Judge Gresham, of the United States Circuit Court, 
declared his purpose to assert his authority over the 
Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette, and Indianapolis, 
Bloomington and Western Railroads, whose receivers 
were appointed by him. and to direct the United States 
Marshal to aid the receivers in moving trains. So far, 
the strikers had not been opposed, and nothing attempted 



294 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

to test the extent of their determination. The Wabash 
men, on the Eastern division, struck at noon, Tuesday, 
July 24th. The freight trains at Lafayette were 
stopped, but passenger trains were allowed to run. 

Judge Gresham notified the strikers at Yincennes, on 
the 26th, that he had nothing to do with the reduction 
of their wages, could therefore take no steps in the mat- 
ter, but that the settlement of the question must be be- 
tween them and Mr. King, the Receiver of the road. 
A passenger train arrived on the Indianapolis and Yin- 
cennes Railroad from Indianapolis, Wednesday. The 
demand of the strikers had been acceded to on that road. 
A passenger coach was attempted to be moved from 
Yincennes, on the 26th, on the Ohio and Mississippi 
Railroad, but the strikers would not allow it. No 
special action was taken at the strikers' meeting, but they 
expressed a determination to stand firmly by their de- 
mands. Judge Gresham would not allow the application 
of the men to be received while the strike lasted, and inti- 
mated that the United States Marshal would be ordered to 
assist the Receiver in running the road, and protecting 
employes who were willing to go to work. 

At Fort Wayne, on the 24th, the employes of Olds 
& Co.'s factory, numbering nearly four hundred, stopped 
work and compelled the shops to shut down. They 
held a meeting in the afternoon, and demanded ten per 
cent, increase of wages, and expressed a determination 
not to allow the shops to resume until their terms were 
complied with. 

By the 24th, the strikers were in undisputed control 
of all railroads at Terre Haute. All trains were stopped 
on all roads, except the Terre Haute and Evansville, 



INSOLENCE IN INDIANA. 295 

which road had never reduced wages. The United 
States mail was interfered with. The East and West 
roads were allowed to run one mail train each way, daily, 
but they were not permitted to carry passengers. The 
railroads upon which traffic was stopped, were the Van- 
dalia, the Indianapolis and St. Louis, Illinois Midland, 
Terre Haute and Danville, and the Terre Haute and 
Logansport. There was no rioting or violence, and 
scarcely any drinking. A message was received by the 
strikers, offering the services of three hundred miners 
at Brazil, but the offer was declined. The railroad 
managers seemed disposed to avoid in every possible 
way, a collision with the strikers, and to await develop- 
ments elsewhere. President Collett, of the Terre 
Haute and Danville, who was absent from the city, 
telegraphed that if the force on his road was dissatisfied, 
and wished to strike, to take off the trains, close the 
yards, lock the doors, and nail up the gates. The largest 
manufacturing establishments were compelled to close 
for lack of coal. At a meeting of railroad strikers, 
held at Terre Haute on the 21th, the following resolu- 
tions were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, The present condition ot the country is one 
demanding the most serious considerations, followed by 
a prompt and vigorous action of the laboring classes of 
the population ; and 

Whereas, An effort is made by a portion, or, perhaps, 
rail of the subsidized agents of capital, to make the im- 
pression that the unsettled state of the country is due to 
the employes of the railroad alone, when in truth and 
in fact, it is oppressed labor, exercising the inherited 
right of revolution against the tyrannical exactions of 
capital; therefore 



THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Resolved, That we now appeal to our fellow-citizens of 
all classes for their sympathy and aid in this, our resist- 
ance to the encroachments of capital upon unprotected 
labor. 

Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of vandalism, 
in any shape that it may present itself, and that in order 
to secure all persons and their property from violence,, 
as w T ell as safe protection to ourselves, we recommend 
the appointment of a committee to take steps to prevent 
the perpetration of any acts of vandalism, during the 
prevalence of this strike. 

Women and children caught in the blockade at 
Indianapolis, were permitted to leave in the postal cars. 
Trains arriving, came in with only the mail car. 

The special police appointed by the Mayor, were on 
duty guarding railroad property. Sheriff Bessly, of 
Indianapolis, who is a member of the Locomotive 
Engineer Brotherhood, had the assurance of that order 
that they would stand by him in protecting propert} r . 

In the evening a large meeting of the citizens of 
Indianapolis assembled in pursuance of the call of the 
Mayor. The meeting was a very quiet and orderly one. 
The main subject discussed was how to protect life and 
property in the crisis upon the city. It was agreed to 
raise a Committee of Safety, to organize companies of 
citizens to protect life and property. The next da}- a 
large number of companies were organized. 

On the night of the 25th of July, a large force of 
armed men were kept on duty to protect railroad shops 
and rolling stock, and private manufactories in the city 
of Fort Wayne. The strikers furnished forces of guards 
wherever desired, and rendered all protection to property 



INSOLENCE IN INDIANA. 297 

which was necessary. At a late hour, two gangs of 
drunken tramps, numbering from fifty to one hundred 
each, gathered at the stock yards and bridge across St. 
Mary's river, and made vicious demonstrations and ugly 
threats. The strikers, upon being apprised of this, sent 
squads of men on hand cars to disperse the mob, which 
they did most effectually, driving all the tramps some 
distance beyond the city limits. Men were kept going 
on hand-cars all night to prevent a gathering of any 
more such assemblages. 

During the evening, a large crowd of section and track- 
men of the Western divisions of the road, many of them 
under the influence of liquor, seized a number of hand- 
cars and entered Columbia City, where the Pittsburgh 
and Fort Wayne Railroad Company was building a 
new depot, and compelled the men employed therein to- 
stop work. These section hands drank freely, and soon 
became very riotous. They started for the city on 
hand-cars, making threats of violence and incendiarism. 
A force of strikers learning of the threatened invasion, 
took an engine and coach and went out and met the mob- 
The strikers were well armed, and they compelled the 
drunken rabble to turn back and abandon their intended 
invasion of Fort Wayne. Strikers in this, as in other 
instai. es, acted on the side of good order, and saved the 
city of Fort Wayne from serious dangers which men- 
aced it. 

Passenger trains were still running on the Pittsburgh,, 
Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, and had not been 
molested. Wednesday night, the strikers notified all 
their number who desired to come from Crestline to 
Fort Wayne to get on the passenger train, and if the 



298 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

conductor insisted upon collecting fare, they were in- 
structed to take possession of the train and run it to suit 
themselves. Their fare was kindly remitted however, 
by the conductor, and all difficulty was thus obviated. 

All freight trains on the Wabash .Railroad stopped 
running, but passenger trains were still moving. A 
secret meeting of the Pittsburgh Railway strikers, 
Wabash Railroadmen and old employes, met at Fort 
Wayne on the 25th. 

All freight trains of the Grand Rapids and Indiana- 
polis, Cincinnati, Richmond and Fort Wayne roads 
stopped running, but passenger trains were still moving. 
Passenger trains out on the Wabash, in both directions 
were discontinued by the officials. 

At midnight on the 25th, strikers at Fort Wayne an- 
nounced their intention of taking possession of all 
passenger trains on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and 
Chicago Railway. They subsequently carried out their 
purpose to assume complete control of the Company's 
business, and provided their own conductors, ticket 
agents, superintendent, etc. Mr. Robert M. Ammon, 
formerly a fireman, became superintendent, and, indeed, 
autocrat of the road. 

This secret meeting of Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and 
Chicago strikers adjourned only a little before midnight. 
Among other things agreed upon, they had selected 
three of their number to fill the positions, held by 
Superintendent Gorham, Master Mechanic Boone, and 
Master of Transportation Clark. These officials learned 
that it was the intention of the strikers to take possess- 
ion of their office and control |the telegraph wires and 
the entire machinery of the road, and concluded to stand 



INSOLENCE IN INDIANA. 299 

a long siege before surrendering. An extra police 
force was put on duty to guard offices, but strikers learn- 
ing of the precaution which had been taken, wisely 
abandoned their purpose, and concluded to allow the 
Company's general officers to go through the motions of 
managing the railroad. That very morning a committee 
of Pittsbugh and Fort "Wayne strikers left for Pitts- 
burgh to confer with railroad officials, having received 
an invitation to do so. They were joined at Crestline, 
Alliance and other stations, by committees from those 
points, bound on a similar errand. 

The committee returned from Toledo, where they had 
been in conference with General Manager Hopkins. A 
meeting of Wabash employes was at once called, and the 
committee stated the results of their conference. They re- 
ported a very satisfactory interview with Mr. Hopkins, 
who had agreed to redress real greivance and to advance 
their pay whenever the business of the Company would 
admit. The meeting was very stormy, one element desir- 
ing to go to extremes. Better counsels finally prevailed, 
and at noon the meeting adjourned, having decided to 
abandon the strike if the employes at other points of the 
line would do the same. A committee was appointed to 
go to Lafayette and Logansport to urge a cessation of the 
•strike, but this was not necessary, as the men at those 
places telegraphed that they had decided to resume work as 
soon as the Company desired them to do so. Manager 
Hopkins was accordingly notified of this determination, 
and replied congratulating the men, and stating that freight 
trains would begin moving as soon as connecting lines 
resumed operations. Local freight trains were immedia- 
tely resumed. The shops of the Wabash Company 



300 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

were closed, thus adding live hundred to the number of 
idle men in the city. These shops, however, were 
reopened two days afterwards. The collapse of the 
strike on the Wabash Railway caused a perceptible 
lengthening of faces among Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne 
strikers, and they were less defiant than before, although 
they professed to be competent to bring the railroad 
to terms. 

On the 27th, at Fort Wayne, Sheriff Munson circula- 
ted the Governor's proclamation among the Pittsburgh 
and Fort Wayne strikers, with a note appended to it, in 
which he declared that, being desirous and determined 
peace and order should prevail in the county, he warned 
all persons who had wrongfully and unlawfully taken 
forcible possession of private property of legally char- 
tered corporations, preventing the moving of trains, and 
obstructing owners and managers of manufactories in 
that county to desist from labor, that they must desist 
from all interference. 

Railroadmen exhibited no intention of complying 
with the Sheriff's order. The same night, a number of 
roughs assembled on the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne 
track, near Coesee, ten miles west of Fort Wayne, with 
the supposed intention of tearing up the track and 
throwing a passenger train off. A gang of striking sec- 
tion men resisted them, and after the passenger train 
had passed, two of the strikers were found by the side 
of the track, badly cut about the head, and in an uncon- 
scious condition. These men, named Frank Reno and 
Jeny Dooney, were so seriously injured, that death en- 
sued. A monument should be erected to their memory ► 

The strikers held another secret meeting on the 27tlu 



INSOLENCE IN INDIANA. 301 

Two attempts were made at Fort Wayne on the 28th, 
to lift the blockade on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and 
Chicago Railroad, both proved failures, strikers coming 
out successful in each instance. Since the strike opened, 
the men had used two elegant coaches as their head- 
quarters with a caboose for an office. These cars stood 
on a side- track, in front of the passenger depot, and in 
them the strikers luxuriated like so many millionnaires. 
From them, the Executive Committee had issued its 
orders, and sent forth men to carry them into execution. 
On the 28th, at noon, just after the citizens' committee 
appointed to reason with the strikers, had left their 
headquarters, a locomotive moved out of the round- 
house, carrying an engineer and fireman, Mayor Zoll- 
inger, Sheriff Munson, Superintendent Gorhain, of the 
Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne Railway, and Superintend- 
ent O'Rourke, of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Rail- 
way. This engine was attached to coaches, Mayor Zoll- 
inger putting in the coupling-pin. Sheriff Munson and 
Superintendent Gorham then ordered the strikers to get 
out of the coaches and surrender them. Most of them 
got out, and the engine moved off with the cars attached. 
The strikers, meanwhile, rallied their comrades, and soon 
about one hundred men, carrying clubs, stones coupling- 
pins, etc., boarded the locomotive and compelled the 
engineer and fireman to dismount. The Mayor, Sheriff 
■and railway officers were completely overpowered, and 
they surrendered in the unequal contest, while the mob 
shouted, cheered and hooted. The strikers took posses- 
sion of the engine, and summoned their fellows by 
sounding the whistle repeatedly. Soon several hundred 
strikers gathered at the point, all of them well armed 



302 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

with weapons of all descriptions. The crowd was ex- 
ceedingly ugly, and filled the air with shouts, hisses,, 
and infernal noises. About an hour after the officers 
had retreated, they re-appeared, and entered into the 
midst, of the crowd, when Sheriff Munson put the ring- 
leader, a man named B. F. Cooper, under arrest. He 
declined to be taken, and the crowd threatened death to 
any one who should try to take him by force. The 
Sheriff and railway officers then retreated into the round- 
house, amid the shouts and cheers of the mob. The 
crowd was gathered in force that night, and if any 
further attempt had been made to raise the blockade, 
blood would have flowed freely. 

Immediately after the occurrences above related, the 
strikers sent a squad to Adams, five miles east, where 
they took possession of the telegraph office and forced 
the operator to send a message to the strikers at Crest- 
line, to send to Fort Wayne at once as many men as 
could be spared. About the same time a committee 
was sent to Columbia City, twenty five miles west, to in- 
duce a large band of section men from the Western 
division, who were assembled there several days, to come 
to Fort Wayne and aid in overpowering the legal au- 
thorities, and prevent the success of their attempt to 
restore peace and order. The mob became quiet, and 
officials were attempting to gather a force sufficient to 
conquer the rioters. Late in the evening, Governor 
Williams offered to send all assistance that might be 
necessary. 

The Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne strikers had tele- 
graphed in all directions for re-inforcements after their 
two victories over the authorities, but the only response, 



INSOLENCE IN LNDIANA. 303 

was made by one hundred section men who came from 
Columbia City, during the night, on hand cars. They 
were a desperate crowd, well armed, and ready for mis- 
chief, but remained in the back ground. On the after- 
noon of the 29th, an unsuccessful attempt was made to 
run an engine out of the roundhouse into the yard, but 
the strikers gathered en masse, and took the engine back,, 
having forced the engineer and fireman from their posts. 
Governor Williams was again called upon for troops, 
but none were sent. A large meeting of strikers was 
held in the afternoon, and a report received from the 
committee, who had returned from Pittsburgh. 

At Indianapolis, the situation was critical on the 26th 
of July. A long conference was held between a strik- 
ers' committee from Columbus, and the strikers' com- 
mittee at Indianapolis, with regard to allowing passen- 
ger coaches to accompany the mail trains upon the Pan 
Handle route. After a long discussion, it was decided 
that coaches might go, and the following morning, the 
different trains carried out a number of passengers. 
When the Cincinnati train came in at twelve o'clock, 
the Union depot was crowded, and the excitement pre- 
vailing was intense. It was stated that a train would 
be started for St. Louis, and at one o'clock the train was 
made up, and the two coaches attached, almost instantly 
filled by excited passengers, who had been detained at 
Indianapolis, in some instances, for many days. The 
accounts given by some of them of their troubles were 
interesting. Some were nearly frantic with anxiety 
regarding the situation of sick relatives, and others were 
enduring heavy business losses from the same cause. 
Few wanted to make the trip under the circumstances 



304 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

forced upon them, but all were willing to risk the un- 
pleasant journey, rather than fail in reaching their des- 
tination as quickly as possible. The Superintendent of 
the road, Mr. Joshua Staples, stated that he had abso- 
lutely nothing to do with the going out of the train in 
the depot. The strikers had seized the road, and the 
property, and were managing things to suit themselves. 
The whim had taken them to run this train out with 
that number of cars now, and it might start at once, 
though he could promise nothing about it. To say that 
Mr. Staples was almost speechless with vexation, would 
be stating the case mildly. He could scarcely articulate. 
The train finally started out behind time, the crowd 
shouting hoarsely. After the departure of the train, the 
excitement somewhat subsided. 

On the evening of the 26th, Governor James D. 
Williams issued a proclamation in which he said that 
disaffected employes of the railroad companies doing 
business in the State of Indiana had renounced their 
employment because of alleged greivance, and had con- 
spired to enforce their demands by detaining trains of 
their late employers, seizing and controlling their property, 
intimidating their managers, prohibiting by violence 
their attempt to conduct their business, and driving away 
passengers and freight offered for transportion. The 
peace of the community was seriously disturbed. By 
these lawless acts, every class of society was made to 
suffer. The comfort and happiness of many families, 
not parties to the grievances, were sacrificed. A contro- 
versy which belongs to the courts or to the province of 
peaceful arbitration or negotiation, was made the excuse 
for an obstruction of trade and travel over the chartered 



INSOLENCE IN INDIANA. 305 

^highways within the State ; the commerce of the entire 
country was interfered with, and the reputation of the 
community threatened with dishonor among their neigh- 
bors. 

This disregard of law and the rights and privileges of 
citizens, and those of sister States, could not be tolerated. 
'The machinery provided by law for the adjustment ot 
private grievances should be first applied to. He ap- 
pealed for the prompt and right administration of justice 
in proceedings of this nature, to the Sheriffs of the 
several counties. He recommended a careful study of 
the duties imposed upon them by the statutes which 
they had sworn to discharge. He admonished each to 
use the full power of his county in the preservation of 
order, and the suppression of breaches of the peace, as- 
suring them of his hearty co-operation, when satisfied 
that occasion required its exercise. 

At Indianapolis, the strikers consented that passenger 
traffic might be resumed in full on all roads, and also 
freight business on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and 
Indianapolis road, that Company having arranged with 
its employes. A compromise was effected on the Bee 
Line, and they were soon in full operation, 
at Indianapolis. 

General Daniel MacAuley circulated a notice forbid- 
ding public meetings, and requesting all non-combatants 
to remain within their dwellings, and forbid them to ap- 
pear upon the streets in squads or crowds. The Sheriff 
and Chief of Police were requested to aid.in the enforce- 
ment of this requirement. 

William A. Sayers, Secretary and Treasurer of the 
Firemen's League of the United States and Canada, 
20 



306 THE GEEAT STKIKES. 

and John Brickley, one of the leading strikers, were ar- 
rested on the evening of the 28th, by the United States 
Marshal, and were taken to the United States Arsenal.. 

General Benjamin Spooner, United States Marshal, 
with a guard of fifty soldiers, left Indianapolis, for Yin- 
cennes, by way of the Yandalia road, in a special train,, 
arriving at its destination at nine o'clock, without any 
interference from the strikers. 

The engineers of the Yandalia road struck at twelve- 
o'clock, the night of the 27th, and attempted to prevent 
trains passing through Terre Haute, by tampering with 
the engines, and intimidation. Two trains went through,, 
one run by Master Mechanic Peddle, and the other by a 
foreign engineer. Subsequently, at a meeting, held in 
Terre Haute, the strikers resolved to go to work the 
next day, and so notified the engineers at Indianapolis,. 
Effingham, and St. Louis. 

The strikes in Indiana were at an end on the 30th of 
July, 1877. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



Chances For Chicago. 



The Tidal Wave Reaches the Illinois Metropolis— The Bad Elements 
Restive — The Tramps Marching in by Hundreds — Chances for 
Plunder — The Commune Commences — Boastful Manifestos — Ab- 
surd Demand — The Social Atmosphere Grows Misty — Precaution- 
ary Measures by Civil and Military authorities — Noisy Demonstra- 
tions of the Internationalists — Citizens Philip Van Patten and 
George Schilling. 

While the whole country was in an uproar, from the 
Wabash to the Delaware, and from the Chemung to 
the Kanawha, and the indications pointed to a greater 
uprising, and the development of passions of deeper in- 
tensity, as the movement among the working classes 
expanded, the eyes of the people of the entire West 
were turned with anxiety toward Chicago, the metropo- 
lis of the lakes. There was a feeling abroad, that 
Chicago occupied a peculiarly critical position in relation 
to the great uprising which was shaking the social and 
political structures of our country to their deepest 
foundations. Chicago is great in point of population, 
great in its commercial enterprise, great in the stores of 
wealth collected by her energetic merchants and bankers, 
great in the number and the magnificence of her public 
and private buildings; and above all, Chicago is great 
in the number and character of the daily newspapers 
issued from her printing offices. Furthermore, Chicago 
is great in the history of the country, on account of hav- 



308 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

ing been the scene of the greatest conflagration known 
in the annals of time ; and Chicago is great as being the 
seat of more startling and sensational developments 
than any or all other American cities. Probably the 
reason for the general belief in the truth, of the last 
statement is to be sought, in the fact that Chicago 
newspapers are confessedly in advance of all other 
newspapers in the world, as chroniclers of occurrences. 
They are emphatically daily records of all events in 
which any human being can possibly have any interest. 
But with all its greatness, Chicago has its vileness 
also. Its great population is, perhaps, as much of a con- 
glomerated mass, of as many races, kindreds and tongues, 
as the inhabitants in any other city in the world can be. 
There are English, Welsh, Irish, French, Polish, Bo- 
hemian, Italian, Russian, Danish and Swedish people 
among its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. Chi- 
cago was long ago noted as having an unusually large 
number of Socialists, Internationalists, Spiritualists, and 
other peculiar people, among its inhabitants. It was 
the first city in this country, in which communism had 
the boldness to come out and avow itself openly. It 
was known generally, that the so-called "dangerous 
classes " were disproportionately numerous in Chicago, 
and hence the shudder of dread, with which men con- 
templated the bare possibility that these chronic law- 
breakers might become the masters of the city, and com- 
pel obedience to any decree they might conclude to 
issue. If such crimes as theft, arson, and murder, 
could be committed by the wholesale in Pittsburgh, a 
much smaller city, what might not the proportionately 
larger class of roughs in Chicago do, when once they 



CHANCES FOR CHICAGO. 309 

triumphed over all lawful authority, as they did in Pitts- 
burgh ? Men asked themselves this question as the ad- 
vancing wave of discontent and passion rolled from the 
East, in resistless might toward the West, and wondered 
what answer time would give. Chicago was regarded as 
a place where the most serious consequences of the 
Great Strikes should be expected. And the sympathies 
of millions of people were evoked in its behalf. The 
city of the Great Conflagration might also become the 
scene of the greatest riots recorded in the history of the 
world. All hoped that it might escape, but all feared 
that it would not escape a visitation of the excitement, 
and many doubted the ability of the civil authorities to 
meet with a general uprising of " the dangerous classes " 
in that city. 

The first intimation of the outbreak of the discon- 
tented in that city were received with a feeling of 
profound concern. The whole population of the great 
Northwest was interested. The great city, it was feared, 
was destined to undergo an ordeal, such as it had not 
before endured, overwhelming as had been the disasters 
which had swept over it. The torch alone, might light 
the fires of a greater conflagration than that which con- 
sumed temples, palaces, marts, and dwellings, during 
that memorable October night in 1871, and yet more 
awful things than that might happen, for with the de- 
vastation of the flames, death might revel in a horrible 
carnival. And men trembled at the suggestion of such 
a possibility. 

The concessions made by numbers of the railway 
companies running into Chicago, prevented any strike 
among their employes, and thus withdrew from the 



310 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

movement a very large number of men, who became 
at once the friends of order, and the stern upholders 
of the law, instead of being doubtful friends, if not 
positive foes, of the law and order party. Again, 
the acts of pillage, arson, and murder, committed by 
roughs who had attached themselves to the cause of 
the laborers, at Baltimore and Pittsburgh, had put the 
striking workingmen on their guard against affiliations 
with such characters. The honest workingmen of the 
land turned away in disgust from the Socialists, and 
other agitators, who had in the very beginning of the 
movement come forward and assumed the control to pro- 
mote their own visionary, not to say vicious, schemes. 
The American workingmen are not thieves, incendi- 
aries, and murderers, but honest, true men, as a class, 
who were engaged in an effort to redress certain wrongs, 
of which they believed themselves to be victims. At 
first they were glad to welcome to their ranks, and 
and thank for their assistance, all who came, professing 
sympathy. But when they saw the deeds of the Com- 
munists and roughs in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, which 
they did long before the waves of the labor-movement 
had reached Chicago and St. Louis, they were disgusted, 
felt themselves outraged, and dishonored by the associa- 
tion, and were ready to assist anybody representing the 
ideas of social order and political stability, to put down 
the howling mobs wherever they might appear. 

These two causes — the action of the railway companies 
conceding the demands of the employes, and the con- 
duct of the mobs of roughs, who had at first joined the 
workingmen in their movement, had prepared the way 
for the maintenance of law and order in Chicago. 



CHANCES FOR CHICAGO. 311 

There could be no very serious infractions of the peace 
-of the community, except by the class — already under 
the ban of the law — known as roughs. The working- 
men neither had occasion, nor desire^to become thieves, 
incendiaries, and murderers, nor to have association with 
persons of that character. They were not only, as a 
class, withdrawn from a position of active enmity against 
the good order of society, but had been transferred to 
the side which favored the preservation of order. 
Therefore the chances for Chicago to escape pillage and 
destruction were good, notwithstanding the immense 
number of visionary men, professional thieves, and idle 
.and vicious characters to be found there, who were in- 
terested, or thought they were, in destroying all order and 
inaugurating a reign of terror. 

Nevertheless Chicago was destined to be shaken as if 
by a mighty tempest. The Communists and the vicious 
of all classes and trades were sufficiently numerous to 
■create no little trouble. It was well to be prepared to 
act with promptness and celerity, and make quick, sharp 
work with public offenders. And the Chicago officials 
had made ample preparations, so that when the announce- 
ment was made that the strikes had been inaugurated in 
■Chicago, the municipal authorities were ready. The an- 
nouncement did not cause any smiting together of 
knees, as in some other cities. 

The strike of railroadmen in Chicago was commenced 
Monday night, July 23rd. The first announcement of 
trouble came from the men employed by the Michigan 
Central Railroad as switchmen. These were joined the 
following morning, by the entire force of firemen and 
Jbrakemen employed by that Company. They claimed 



312 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

that they were forced to take the step by the arrogance^ 
penuriousness, and unkindness of the managers of the 
road. Having abandoned their places, the strikers gath- 
ered in force on Tuesday morning, the 24th, and, in a 
body, visited the other railroad employes in the city, and 
induced them all, with the exception of employes of 
the Chicago and Northwestern, to quit work. Before 
noon on the 24th, only one railroad which was running 
trains out of Chicago had any freight trains moving on. 
their tracks. 

As soon as the the announcement of the strike among 
railroadmen had spread through the city, a mob, among 
whom were few or no strikers, but composed largely 
of disreputable characters, was speedily assembled, to 
the number of about five hundred men, and started out 
on a career of lawlessness on the West Side. These 
ruffians visited manufactories, and all other" places where 
men were employed, and compelled the workmen to 
desist from their labors. 

Before sundown of the 24th, the railroad offices in the 
city, and the depots and yards of all the railroads wore a 
quiet and desolate appearance. The great traffic of a 
mighty city had suddenly ceased. The wheels of com- 
merce stood still, and silence fell upon the lately 
bustling marts. The railroad companies had anticipated 
the strikes, and had sent away as many cars from the 
city yards as possible. 

The mob, which commenced its march in the morning,, 
and paid attention first to the railroad shops, continued 
all day performing its evil mission. The closing of the 
workshops of the railroad companies, which had been, 
accomplished without difficulty, emboldened the self-couv- 



CHANCES FOR CHICAGO. 313 

stituted guardians of the rights of workingmen, and they 
proceeded next to the shops, founderies, mills and lum- 
ber yards, to command the laborers employed in them 
to cease from their toil. 

Meanwhile the band, which started out in the morn- 
ing with five hundred men, had grown to a multitude of 
two thousand men, and had been divided into sections. 
This mob was largely composed of boys, ranging in age 
from sixteen to twenty years. The mob did not re- 
spect the wishes of the laborers in the shops of the 
Chicago and Northwestern Railway, who had not struck,, 
but compelled them to quit. 

Mayor Heath was not idle during this eventful day. 
Determined to preserve the public peace, and maintain 
good order in the city, he was taking such steps as would 
give him control of an available force of picked men, suf- 
ficient in numbers and appointments to enforce his orders 
when the time should arrive for decisive action. All 
the afternoon, the Chief Magistrate of the city was en- 
gaged in selecting and swearing in a select body of citi- 
zens to act as special police during the continuance of 
the crisis. Nor was he content with these precautionary 
measures alone. In view of the threatened danger, he 
had conferred with the military commanders stationed 
in Chicago, and through them had induced the Federal 
Administration to order to that city the Twenty-second 
United States Infantry, then doing duty in Dakota. 
This regiment was to have gone further East, but the 
threatening aspect of affairs at Chicago, was sufficient 
reason for a halt there. 

In the meantime, as the day w T ore away, the city ex- 
hibited evidence of the general uneasiness which per- 



314: THE GREAT STRIKES. 

vaded the public mind. Late in the evening the Blue. 
Island avenue cars were stopped for about an hour, by 
one of the gangs, into which the mob had been divided. 
The rumor spread with great rapidity, that the mob pro- 
posed to stop all travel on the horse-car lines, and this 
served to increase the excitement on the streets. But 
there was really no occasion for the intensity of interest 
manifested. The leaders of the gang which had stopped 
the cars, were promptly arrested and locked up by the 
police, and the cars continued to run as usual. 

The wildest reports of the action of the mob were in 
circulation by nightfall. It was a field day for the Press 
reporters, who seemed ubiquitous, narrowly watching 
every movement, seizing upon the most trifling incident, 
and elaborating from it whole columns of matter. In 
former days, chroniclers of great events would not have 
occupied so much space in detailing the circumstances 
attending the shock of mighty armies in battle, as was 
used by the press reporters in Chicago in reporting the 
movements of a parcel of discontented men, and a mul- 
titude of street boys. The parade of the mob was the 
most formidable part of the trouble of the day. In 
truth, there had been no attempt at incendiarism, few 
altercations, and scarcely a single breach of the peace. 
The lawlessness of the gangs were manifested in no 
other way than interfering with peaceable citizens, to 
prevent them from pursuing their usual avocations. 
Upon the whole, it was a very good natured sort of mob, 
indulging in pleasantries while engaged in violating 
the law, by trenching on the rights of others. But the 
conduct of the mob on the 24th, was only a prelude to 
more dangerous demonstrations, and more decisive 



CHANCES FOR CHICAGO. 315 

actions. Collisions had been expected, but, as the even- 
ing advanced, far into the night, no intelligence of con- 
flicts had been received, and gradually the streets were 
deserted by the crowds which had thronged them, and 
the great city sank into a profound repose soon after 
midnight. The eventful day had passed, and no stirring 
•or startling occurrence had taken place. 

Wednesday, July 25th, dawned mistily upon the city. 
Clouds of vapor hung suspended over Lake Michigan, 
and shadowed the streets, and palaces of Chicago. There 
was gloom on the faces of men as well as on the face of 
nature. The apprehension of conflicts, of incendiary 
torches, of disaster and death, had a strong hold on the 
public mind. 

Early in the day, it was announced that the Union 
Stock and Rolling Mills, and Malleable Iron Works on 
the North Side, had closed, thus transferring three hun- 
dred industrious men to the ranks of the idlers. It 
was this rapid increase in the number of idle men, that 
served to increase the general uneasiness. There is mis- 
chief in idleness, and this was a time when men dreaded 
any enlargement of the possible elements of mischief- 
making. 

The first conflict between the mob and the represen 
Natives of lawful authority took place on the morning 
of the 25th. A section of the mob was moving on 
Twenty-second street, when it was met by a squad of 
police officers. The mob was largely composed of a 
class of persons, to be found in all cities, who regard 
police officers as their natural foes. Being now in a 
large body together, it occurred to them that an ex- 
cellent opportunity was afforded to have ^revenge on 



316 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

their enemies, hence they proceeded to treat the officers 
to a shower of stones, and then advanced npon theiri 
with sticks. The police officers were prepared for them y 
and drawing their pistols, they advanced upon the 
crowd, fired their pistols, charged with blank cartridges, 
then advanced briskly, club in hand, to the assault. 
The officers of the law were quickly among the rioters, 
applying their clubs in a way exceedingly unpleasant to 
the law-breakers, who speedily scattered, some of them 
with bleeding heads. Two of the officers were struck, 
but received slight injuries. 

Another section of the rowdies, seized the Phoenix 
Distillery, compelled the employes to quit work, drove 
the proprietors from the place, and closed the establish- 
ment. The proprietors applied to the United States 
army officers for protection, and re-instatement. 

On the North Side, the rabble who were assuming to 
regulate other people's affairs, showed themselves par- 
ticularly incompetent to govern their own actions in a 
proper manner. They were very noisy, and made 
themselves particularly obnoxious by lawless deeds. 
This crowd showed a decidedly bellicose disposition, and 
amused themselves by smashing windows and defacing 
buildings in all cases w T here objection was made to their 
proceedings. At the North Side Rolling Mills, a large 
company of strikers defied the police, and compelled them 
to retire discomfited from the field. The police return- 
ed to their station-houses, and the strikers marched on. 

The excitement in the city was growing hour by hour. 
Men were uncertain, apprehensive, fearful. What would 
come of all this ? What did the mighty movement that 
now extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific mean ? 



CHANCES FOR CHICAGO. 317 

What would become of government, society, institutions, 
the hopes of mankind, if the element which had sud- 
denly exhibited so much zeal, vigor, and organization, 
should succeed in their purposes \ These were questions 
presented to the minds of all, but answered satisfactorily 
by no one. 

Early in the morning of Wednesday, a gang of some 
twenty or thirty rowdies boarded a passenger train on 
the Illinois Central Railroad, just before it left the depot. 
When it had gone a short distance, they compelled the 
engineer to back up, and return to the depot-yard. 
Another gang attempted to stop the dummy, which runs 
from the Union Stock Yards. In this purpose they 
were thwarted by the coolness and daring of the conduc- 
tor, who, with drawn revolver in hand, defied the roughs, 
and proceeded on his way. 

One of the sections which visited a large white lead 
and oil manufactory, not meeting with the cordial recep- 
tion they believed themselves entitled to receive, ex- 
pressed their disgust by attacking the building with a 
perfect shower of stones. They succeeded in destroying 
a considerable amount of glass, which was in the win- 
dows. A few sailors joined in the general sentiment of 
workingmen on a strike, and struck for an advance of 
wages. But the masses of the jolly tars did not take 
kindly to the fashion of the land-lubbers, and as a con- 
sequence the sailors' strike was a failure. 

There was a collision between a band of rioters and 
policemen at the corner of Twelfth and Canal streets. 
The police were successful in vanquishing the roughs, 
struck a goodly number with clubs, severely bruising a 
few, and arresting quite a number of them. 



318 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

All saloons were closed on the West Side at an early 
hour in the day. Later orders were issued by the Mayor 
to close all saloons in the city. The penalty for refusing 
to comply with the order was the revocation of their 
licenses. No one had been killed in all the encounters 
between police officers and the mob, though a number of 
the former had received ugly cuts and bruises, and many 
of the latter had suffered from severe beatings inflicted 
by the strong arms of the officers wielding their clubs. 

The arrival of a portion of the Twenty-Second Regi- 
ment of United States infantry, from Dakota, was an 
event which cheered the hearts of the law-abiding 
citizens, if it did not have the effect of striking terror 
into the souls of the riotous mob. 

All the afternoon the strikers — or rather the mob, for 
there were very few railroadmen or strikers from shops 
and^factories, among the crowds which marched around 
to order the stopping of work — continued their parade 
begun the day before. Many shops were visited, many 
honest men were intimidated from earning bread for 
their families. 

The City Council had a session in the afternoon, and 
adopted a series of resolutions, supporting the measures 
taken by the Ma}^or, for the preservation of peace, and 
authorizing him to make whatever expenditures mi^ht 
be deemed necessary, in order to protect the lives and 
property of the citizens. In addition, a measure was in- 
troduced and referred to the Committee on Finance, 
authorizing the Mayor to borrow the sum of half a 
million of dollars, to be expended on public improve- 
ments, in order that those idle might be furnished em- 
ployment. This action of the City Council fairly 



CHANCES FOR CHICAGO. 319' 

illustrates the condition of the public mind, as it was 
manifested in Chicago on the 25th of July, 1877. The 
Mayor issued another proclamation reiterating his 
requests, that patrols be formed, and that idlers and 
curious people, and especially women and children, keep 
off the streets, and ordering police and citizens to arrest 
disorderly persons. The authorities would not be respon- 
sible for consequences of the collection of people in a 
crowd. 

The merchants held a meeting, and made arrange- 
ments for an organized body of special police, composed 
of merchants and employes, who should not disband 
until peace was restored. 

As yet, no real difficulty had been encountered. The 
citizens were excited ; the discontented and dangerous ele- 
ments were fully aroused, and the aspect of affairs were 
certainly threatening. There was not wanting evidence 
that a large number of people in that city would hail 
with keen satisfaction the inauguration of a reign of 
terror, such as had been experienced at Pittsburgh, 
only more terrible because of the greater number of 
people involved. 

Meanwhile, the various sections of the "Working- 
men's Party of the United States " — the Internationalists 
were suddenly galvanized into energetic life by the events 
which had been taking place everywhere — were holding 
meetings daily and nightly, in many different parts of the 
city, enrolling new members and doing a remarkable 
amount of talking about their purposes, and their readi- 
ness to assert their " rights," and make war on society 
to the extent of subverting the established political and 
social institutions of the country. The Communists 



320 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

were in their element. The citizens, Philip Yan Patten, 
and George Schilling, leaders of the Internationalists 
were unusually alert. They were taking counsel with 
their followers continually. 

On the night of the 25th, a mass meeting, under the 
auspices of the Workingmen's Party of the United 
States, was held at Madison and Market streets. This 
meeting was attended by perhaps one thousand eight 
hundred, or two thousand persons. The same evening 
a meeting of the Labor League was held at Maskell's 
Hall, on Desplaines street. All day the sections of the 
mob had been going about the streets, interfering with 
the men in various manufactories, compelling men to 
close up, and doing many unlawful and malicious acts. 
But they were not wearied at night. The various halls 
where the members of the trades' unions met, were well 
tilled. And yet the throngs in the street were not less 
numerous. Even the workingmen, and the Inter- 
nationalists seemed to have been surprised by the sudden- 
ness and evident momentum of the popular movement 
in Chicago. 

Messrs. Yan Patten, Schilling, Parsons, and other 
members of "The Workingmen's Party of the United 
States," do not seem to have fully comprehended the 
nature of the movement in progress around them. 
During the early part of the day these men, who com- 
posed " The Executive Committee," issued an address to 
workingmen, in which they advised them, under any 
circumstances, to keep quiet until they should have given 
the crisis due consideration. An Executive Committee, 
they announced, had been appointed to receive dele- 
gates from every shop, mill, and trades' union wherever 







ms^m* 



CHANCES FOE CHICAGO. 321 

there were one hundred united, to lay out a plan how 
"to work and better their situation. They were invited 
to appoint delegates and send them at any time after 
eight o'clock that night. 

It was announced that The Executive Committee 
would sit all night at No. 113 Milwaukee avenue. 

The place selected for the meeting that night was not 
deemed suitable, and it had been the purpose of the 
leaders to change the place of meeting to Milwaukee 
avenue. It was too late. By seven o'clock a 'large 
crowd had gathered, and there was all the material for a 
first-class communistic meeting, and very soon a regular 
mass-meeting was organized on the west side of Market 
street. Some one arose and commenced making a speech, 
but the tenor of his remarks was not satiefactory to his 
audience, and a clamor was raised which compelled him 
to desist. Then another man, whose name was not an- 
nounced, arose, and in fervid tones, and florid rhetoric, 
commenced to animadvert upon the conduct and pur- 
poses of the capitalists, and to paint in horrid colors the 
terrible slavery of the workingmen. He dwelt with tel- 
ling emphasis upon the wickedness of Thomas A. Scott, 
•John W. Garrett, and men like them, and declared that 
the press was owned and controlled by men who were in 
alliance with these arch-enemies of the laboring masses. 
This orator of " The "Workingman's Party of the United 
States," soon concluded his remarks, as the crowd seemed 
to be altogether too merry in mood to attend to the long- 
drawn sentences of any man for any considerable length 
•of time. 

A Mr. Malton followed, and opened up a plan to heal 
•all the wounds. His proposition was to send a delega 
21 



322 THE GEEAT STRIKES. 

tion to Washington, demand that the President should! 
convene Congress at once, that Congress should be in- 
structed by the people to authorize the issue of Treasury- 
notes, to the workingmen, worth dollar for dollar in 
Government bonds, to be redeemable within sixty days,. 
in order that the laboring masses might be saved from 
starvation. The ideas of Mr Malton, were hailed with 
delight by the mass of men before him. 

An ex-soldier of the Union army, next mounted the 
stage. He showed a crippled and distorted hand, which r 
he said, was the result of wounds received " while fight- 
ing for this glorious country/' Five other scars of 
bullet wounds, he declared, adorned his body. He said 
when he entered the army, he was promised a life of 
honor and emolument in case he should be wounded in 
his country's service. '' How had these promises been 
carried out ? " Here he was a cripple, and receiving the 
beggarly pittance of six dollars a month. The promises 
made him were infamous lies. What cared the men who 
had reaped benefits from his services, for him now 
in his distress ? He was in favor of making the- 
bondholders, and social thieves, and political knaves- 
feel the weight of an indignant people's wrath. " The 
veteran," continued at some length. Some one else took 
the stand and harangued the crowd for awhile in much 
the same strain. 

The crowd was a very orderly one. It was composed 
of all classes of citizens. Many had gone from mere- 
curiosity. There was no breach of the peace or other 
disorderly manifestations. Notwithstanding this fact, 
about this time a squad of police officers made their ap- 
pearance, marching briskly down Market street, and im- 



CHANCES FOE CHICAGO. 32ST 

mediately charged the crowd congregated there, and very 
quickly dispersed them. It has not yet been made appar- 
ent by what right a peaceable assemblage of men were thus 
assailed by the representatives of lawful authority. But 
it was not a favorable time for a strict observance of the 
inhibitions of the supreme law of the land — the Consti- 
tution of the United States — by the police authorities of 
Chicago. It was assumed, that such meetings were 
about to, or might possbily lead to, a breach of the peace,, 
then or at some other time. So the people were driven 
away. 

At Maskell's Hall, on Desplaines street, another meet- 
ing was held. This one was under the auspices of the 
Labor League of Chicago. But the views advanced by 
the speakers were not much less impracticable than those 
entertained by the speakers at the meeting of the Inter- 
nationalists. The speech of the evening was delivered 
by Mr. John McGiloray. A brief synopsis of his re- 
marks will serve to show the spirit of the laboring men, 
in the great movement in progress. 

Mr. McGiloray asserted, that " the workingman -was 
the power of the world; labor had arisen in all its 
power, and demanded better times. "What was the 
cause of the bad times was a question. If a man de- 
posited his vote in the ballot-box wisely, there would be 
no trouble in the country." He would not attempt to 
make them believe that it was necessary for the Govern- 
ment to own the railroads nor the telegraph. Years ago 
there were two parties in the country ; they fought, and 
the weaker was brought under, and slavery was abolish- 
ed. They were merely machines, not valued as even 
slaves would be, but used eight or ten hours and thrown 



324: THE GREAT STRIKES. 

aside. They had the right to choose their emj)loyers > 
and these employers had the liberty to discharge their 
men. The dollar of the fathers was good during the 
war ; debts were paid with greenbacks, and justly. 
The European capitalists did not like greenbacks. Like 
Shylock, they wanted flesh, but not only flesh, but blood, 
and so the British corporations secured, with the use of 
a good deal of money, the act demonetizing the silver, 
which from time immemorial had been a good currency. 
The speaker said he had seen a newspaper which begged 
and cried for the demonetizing of silver, now crying for 
the remonetizing of silver, and the repeal of the Resump- 
tion act. It showed on the whole that the logic of circum- 
stances was stronger than the arguments of any petty 
paper. Specimen bricks were used to show their wares by 
the owners of silver mines out West, that they who saw 
might buy. Such a specimen, although an unworthy one, 
-was President Garrett, of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road, who said he had a surplus of thirty-three million dol- 
lars. This gentleman said that hard times existed, and 
on this account the wages of his men must be reduced. 
Again, Henry Ward Beecher, the reverend gentleman? 
said that men could live on bread and water (hisses) ; he 
had physical ability which had been tested in various 
ways. Mr. McGiloray then read an extract from the Times 
giving Henry Ward Beecher's opinion on the strike. 
He advised his hearers if they struck, to strike quietly 
.and decently, and not to go into incendiarism, and then 
the authorities would have no right to interfere. They 
<jould not hurt the railroad companies nor the insurance 
companies by setting fire to their property. All the 
property damaged must be paid by the workingmen, 



CHANCES FOR. CHICAGO. 325 

for the city, county, and State would have to pay, and 
with the present County Commissioners who were in- 
clined in a fair way to extras, they- would get the full 
value of the property. He was glad that the railroads 
were partly acceding to the demands of the men. The 
cause of the trouble was the laws, not made by working- 
men, but by lawyers, who knew little or nothing of the 
wants of the people. There were not enough working- 
men in the halls of Congress. The railroads had specu- 
lative men to push them ; they were too many, conse- 
quently they went into the hands of the Receiver. 
Congress, instead of giving to railroads subsidies, should 
colonize the farmer on the Government lands, and should 
loan to him in place of the capitalists. The city was 
overloaded with men. There had been hard times, and 
men had felt pinched. There had been no over produc 
tion but an under-consuming. 

Alderman Frank Lawler and others addressed the 
meeting, and advocated the workingman's cause. 

So the day passed, the night came, and the crowds ot 
men, women, and children thronged the streets by 
thousands. There had been no very serious conflicts 
during the day, and no lives had been lost. The police 
had been active and vigilant, the mob had been noisy, 
but not very combative. A hundred different places 
had been closed by striking workingmen and mobs of 
vicious idlers, throwing out of employment ten or fif- 
teen thousand persons. The railroads had ceased to 
move freight trains. All commercial business had been 
suspended, and the situation of the city had become 
exceedingly critical. 

The appearance of Chicago during the night of the 



326 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

25th, reminded one of the situation in New York 
during the great draft riots of 186 A. There was an 
uncounted number of tramps, thieves, pimps and vicious 
idlers of every grade, intermixed with the workingmen, 
encouraging them in their strike against their employers, 
and counseling them to proceed to extreme and lawless 
measures. In the neighborhood of Lake street, half 
intoxicated, slatternly, frail women of the lowest type, 
joined the throngs of roughs who frequent that locality, 
and made night hideous with their obscene exclamations, 
and horrible profanity. Of such as these were the 
petroleuses of the Parisian Commune of 1871. In 
certain parts of the city, unusual quiet prevailed during 
the afternoon and evening. All the saloons had been 
closed, the Mayor had sworn into service two thousand 
special policemen, General Torrence had called out two 
militia regiments, who were in their armories awaiting 
orders ; several companies of the Twenty-Second United 
States Infantry were quartered in the Tabernacle, so as 
to be accessible to any possible scene of conflict in the 
city, and the Committee of Safety felt assured, that the 
law-abiding citizens would triumph over any possible 
mob of rioters. Including police, militia, United States 
regulars, and independent military companies, acting as 
& posse, it was estimated that there were no less than 
fifteen thousand men under arms, and ready for action 
on call, in Chicago, on the night of the 25th of July, 
1877. The sentiment in favor of the maintenance of 
the law was strong and decisive. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 



Pistols and Clubs. 



It Comes at Last — Riotous Roughs — Socialists Serring Satan — A. 
Well Organized Police Force — The Military all Ready — Hot Heads 
at Halstead Street — Resisting Arrest — The Police Persist, are Re- 
sisted and resort to Pistols and Clubs — Intense Excitement — A 
Scene of Bloodshed and Death — At the Viaduct — Triumphant Law 
— Roughs Retire — Dead in the Streets — Then Peace. 



The violent demonstrations of the mob on Wednes- 
day, leading to a fusilade on Halstead street in the 
-evening, it had been hoped, would terminate the disturb- 
ances in Chicago. And this hope was based on the 
reasonable ground that several railroad companies, em- 
ploying a large number of men, had at once acceded to 
the demands of their employes, thereby removing all 
cause of complaint on the part of their employes, and 
consequently withdrawing therefrom any active sym- 
pathy with the riotous conduct of workingmen through- 
out the country. But well founded as were such hopes, 
they were doomed to be disappointed. It was not the 
railroadmen, not even the sober, industrious working- 
men of other trades in Chicago, who had seized upon 
:and were directing the riotous movements in that city. 
The same dreadful elements that had come to the front 
in Baltimore, in Pittsburgh, New York, Newark, Buff- 
alo and, indeed, in all the cities where riotous demon- 
strations had been made, were present in Chicago. Be- 
hind the discontent of the poor-paid workingmen, ap- 



328 THE GEEAT STRIKES. 

peared the horrid front of the Commune. It was 
" The Workingmen's Party of the United States," 
known in Europe as the " Workingmen's International 
Association," that had assumed the reins, and were en- 
deavoring to drive the car of civilization over the 
precipice of destruction. It mattered not to such men 
as Yan Patten, Schilling, Parsons, Clynch, and other 
leaders of the malcontents, whether the railroadmen had 
succeeded in carrying their point. It was sufficient for 
their purposes that the public mind was excited, that 
the whole country was in an uproar, that a vast number 
of men were idle, poverty stricken, hopeless, and these 
were fit materials out of which to manufacture mobs.. 
And they proceeded to organize the idle, and the vicious 
into formidable, and dangerous bands of rioters. 

The measures adopted by the Mayor, and municipal 
authorities, were not amiss, as events proved. Ample as 
were the preparations, thorough as were the organiza- 
tion of the law-abiding citizens, the preparations were 
not too extensive, nor the organizations uncalled for, in 
the emergency which had arrived. 

The morning of the 26th was damp, murky and hot. 
A rain had fallen the night before, which had not served, 
to cool the temperature, or cause a breeze to break the 
sultriness of the steamy atmosphere. And the passions of 
men had not cooled during the still hours of the last half of 
the preceding night. The people of Chicago, not unused 
to exciting events, rose that morning, hopeful, but ready 
for whatever emergency they might be called upon to 
meet. Bands of armed men were stationed at many 
convenient points in the city, the police were thoroughly 
organized and carefully instructed in regard to the. 



PI6T0LS AND CLUBS. 320 

nature of the service they were expected to perform. 
Several companies of United States regulars, which had 
been placed at the disposal of the Governor, by the 
President, and by him ordered to act under the orders 
of Mayor Heath, were quartered in the Tabernacle, a 
building convenient to any point likely to be threatened.. 
By order of the Mayor, all saloons had been closed, and 
peaceable citizens, women and children, had been warned 
to avoid going into the streets. The committee of 
safety organized as a civil posse, acting under the orders 
of the Mayor, and Sheriff of Cook County, were divided 
into companies, and patroled the streets in nearly every 
section of the city. All business of every character had 
been completely suspended. There were no busy hands 
nor toiling brains in the great commercial marts of the 
metropolis of the lakes. There was a mingled feeling 
of apprehension and hopefulness agitating every breast 
throughout the mighty hive of humanity. 

There are reasons for the belief that the lawless ele- 
ments had not been idle during the night. Quiet con- 
sultations had been held, and a sort of understanding 
between various bands and cliques of the turbulent ele- 
ments, as to what their course should be, had been ar- 
rived at. Such was the situation in Chicago, on the 
morning of the 26th of July, 1877. The city was rest- 
ing above a volcano, that gave token of a coming erup- 
tion. That it was not involved in sudden and certain 
destruction, is believed to be due to the careful and ex-^ 
tensive preparations which had been made. The action 
of Mayor Heath, throughout, showed him to be a matt 
of calm disposition, cool judgment, and possessed of 
great practical wisdom. In every movement made 



330 



THE GREAT STRIKES. 



during those anxious days, he displayed a calmness that 
fitted him to judge correctly, a judgment that enabled 
Mm to decide justly, on every issue presented. Know- 
ing that numbers of honest, but illiterate and unreflect- 
ing men, would naturally be drawn into the maelstrom 
of passion engendered by the mob, he directed that life 
should not be lightly regarded, and ordered his forces 
to be as sparing as possible in the destruction of life. 
Sternly resolved upon enforcing the law, he yet retain- 
ed the feelings of a man, and to his humanity and jus- 
tice, in ordering the municipal forces to fire high, and 
spare life whenever it was possible, many a poor, mis- 
guided man in Chicago was spared to his family, to his 
friends, perhaps to a career of honor and usefulness. In 
this respect, the conduct of Mayor Heath, contrasted 
with that of some other official characters, is like a ray of 
light in a cave of darkness. He might have decreed 
the death of hundreds — many innocent ones among 
them — but he did not. Nevertheless, it is contended 
by some, that like many others during those days, Mayor 
Heath placed himself in a position amenable to censure, 
by violating the supreme law of the land in a manner 
that requires the severest reprobation. He assumed to 
interdict the meeting of societies in their own halls, in 
palpable violation of the first article of the amendments 
rto the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees 
M the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to pe- 
tition the Government for a redress of grievances." 
What right had Mayor Heath, Chief of Police Hickey, 
Governor Cullom, aye, or the President of the United 
States to interdict the meeting of the coopers or the 
moulders, or any other assemblage of citizens? What 



PISTOLS AND CLUBS. 331 

right had they to interfere with any one on account of 
words spoken? The " freedom of speech shall not be 
abridged." But, his mistake may be excused. 

These things are mentioned here, because it is impor- 
tant to remember that lawlessness should meet with 
prompt and stern reprobation from every patriotic 
-citizen, whether it is developed among illiterate laborers 
'Or among the cultivated leaders of social and political 
opinions. There is. some excuse for the ignorant, who, 
misguided by evil counselors, may be betrayed into 
the commissions of unlawful acts. There can be no 
extenuating plea in favor of the cultivated, and certainly 
no possible plea, can be entered in behalf of those who 
are the administrators of the law. 

The citizens of Chicago were not long kept in doubt 
as to the purposes of the mob on Thursday morning. 
At a very early hour men began to assemble in various 
localities, little knots at first, they were the nuclei of 
great multitudes. At seven o'clock in the morning, the 
city was already in a feverish condition, and the streets 
were thronged by an excited populace. The hopes which 
had been entertained by some, that there would be no 
demonstration of the mob on Thursday, was dissipated. 

As early as seven o'clock, intelligence reached police 
Tieadquarters, that lawless mobs were beginning to con- 
centrate at the Halstead street viaduct, where a fight had 
occured the preceding night. Rioters came from all 
parts of the city, and before nine o'clock not less than 
ten thousand persons were present. It was evident that 
the mob was bent on violence, and hesitated in their 
maddened frenzy at nothing. The north approach to 
the viaduct, and the structure itself, was thronged by an 



332 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

immense mass of rioters. When the crowd seemed in 
the highest state of excitement, sixty men under officer 
Frainer arrived, and the moment the rioters beheld the 
approach of the police officers, they broke into small gangs 
and fled howling like fiends. The police followed on 
a run in pursuit of them, firing as they ran. A counter 
charge was made by the rioters in an attempt to pass the 
police on the viaduct, in order that there might be a 
force of desperadoes on each side of the beleaguered offi- 
cers of the law. The scheme was frustrated by the free 
use of billies, and display of pistols, from which blank 
cartridges were fired. 

< The mob then proceeded to Sixteenth street where a 
halt was made. A large body turned into Sixteenth, 
street and a similar crowd went east in the direction of 
the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad freight 
houses. There was a brief moment of inaction, during- 
which the police formed in line and prepared for a 
charge. 

; This was a signal for a perfect shower of stones, pistol 
shots, and other missiles. For a little time the wildest dis- 
order prevailed. It was evident that the police could not 
resist the overwhelming forces arrayed against them half 
an hour. A discharge of weapons was kept up at short 
intervals in reply to the stones that were being continu- 
ally hurled at them from all sides. With every moment 
of delay, during which the rioters were unharmed, the 
belief grew in their minds that the police were not firing 
bullets, and they began surging nearer a central rallying 
point. Several times did a few of the more daring- 
attempt to break in upon the sturdy band of police, and 
each time they were successfully repulsed. At last the 



PISTOLS AND CLUBS. 333 

police received intimation that re- enforcements were 
coming up Halstead street. They justly concluded that 
their situation became more precarious each moment. 

The police, seeing the impossibility of resisting the 
mighty tide of humanity which was surging down upon 
them, hastily formed in line, and, raising a great shout, 
started to retreat across the viaduct. The roughs rushed 
forward in pursuit, with shouts and yells that startled 
every listener. It seemed as if all the infernal imps had 
come from their gloomy retreat to curse the earth by 
their presence. Flight after flight of stones, hurled by 
strong arms, assailed the police officers as they moved 
away on Halstead street. The police attempted to guard 
their retreat at first, but soon found it absolutely impos- 
sible, and turned and fled. The race for life was then 
one of the wildest and most exciting that could be 
imagined. The vast throng hung close upon the heels 
of the police, and did not cease until the latter arrived at 
Fifteenth street, where a relief force had just arrived. 
This consisted of a squad of fifty mounted police. — armed 
with repeating rifles. When the rioters saw these they 
turned to retreat. Then began the battle, the police 
keeping up constant firing, and using clubs to good 
advantage. In this affair only two persons were killed, 
one of whom was a bright-eyed boy, who received a 
death-blow fron a stone. 

The numbers comprising the mob began to increase, 
and the police felt incompetent to master the situation. 
About eleven o'clock, the second regiment appeared with 
two pieces of artilery, which produced something like a 
panic in the ranks of the infuriated mob, the rioters scat- 
tered in various directions, but continued to hurl stones 



334 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

and fire their pistols. As they began to disperse a> 
mounted troop of members of the Grand Army of the 
Republic were fired into by occupants living in a private 
house. The parties who did the shooting were arrested 
by the police and locked up. 

The second battle of the day occurred in the fore- 
noon, on Twelfth street, where a large crowd of rioters 
greeted the officers with yells and threats. The usual 
weapons, stones and other misiles, filled the air. A 
number of officers were seriously hurt. The crowd 
surged into Turner Hall on Twelfth street, and picked up 
chairs and used them for weapons. Revolvers were fired 
from all directions. Five of the rioters were killed and 
over thirteen badly wounded. After twelve o'clock 
three companies of regular troops arrived in the locality 
of the riot, and their presence had the desired effect, and 
by three o'clock p. m. the mob was pretty well dispersed^ 
In that part of the city, during the afternoon, every pre- 
caution was made to prevent a further spread of the riot. 
At five o'clock four more companies of regulars arrived 
in the city, and citizens organized in every form and 
manner for the protection of life and property. Saloons 
were closed and business was suspended. The Board 
of Trade had ajourned. Business men entered into- 
various organizations which were stationed at the 
threatened points throughout the city. 

During the hours between, say nine o'clock in the 
morning and two o'clock in the evening, Chicago was 
suffering in the throes of an excitement which is indes- 
cribable. The newspaper offices were besieged by vast 
crowds, eager to get the least bit of intelligence from 
the so-called battle that was in progress in the neighbor- 



PISTOLS AND CLUBS. 335 

hood of the Halstead street viaduct, and on Sixteenth 
street. Mounted couriers rode in wild haste from point 
to point, and reports of the most terrible massacres and 
slaughters were repeated from lip to lip, and believed by 
thousands. Men turned pale at the blood-curdling 
recital of horrors at the viaduct, and women swooned 
when the horrifying reports fell upon their ears. The 
most exaggerated stories prevailed concerning the charac- 
ter of the collision at the Halstead street viaduct. Ten 
blocks away from the spot where the mob and police were 
engaged in something of a fight, such stories as were cir- 
culated were perfectly astounding. At one time a report 
flew, and grew in magnitude and horror as it flew through 
the city, to the effect that the mob had vanquished the po- 
lice force of nearly a hundred men, had captured more than 
thirty of them, and had deliberately massacred the whok* 
number, before the eyes of the citizens, who were power- 
less to assist them. At another time it was reported that 
the regular United States troops had gone out Halstead 
street, with a four-gun battery charged with grape shot 
and canister, and two Gatling guns, and had opened 
fire on the mob with the most horribly destructive 
effects — that hundreds — nay thousands of the rioters had 
been killed, and that Halstead and Sixteenth streets were 
literally flowing with blood. 

The effect of such reports, when there were no means of 
ascertaining the truth, was to excite the people beyond 
all precedent. To ladies pent up in their houses during 
these exciting scenes, hearing nothing but the exagger- 
ated reports that flew through the streets, with brothers, 
husbands, fathers, and lovers, engaged in the strife, the 
day was one of unmitigated misery. The anguish of 



336 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

doubt, the deceitfulness of appearances, the alternations 
of fear and of hope, of courage and despair, were some 
of the mental distresses that tormented them during that 
memorable day. 

During the afternoon, and the early part of the even- 
ing, there were few exciting incidents, and the city was 
comparatively quiet. The hopes of the people were 
once more raised, the belief had become general, that the 
mob had dispersed, and would not gather again. 

At half-past eleven at night a large mob gathered at 
the corner of Sixteenth and Halstead streets, augmented 
by the presence of a great number of Bridgeport roughs. 
Indications at first pointed to as serious an affair as the 
fights occuring in the morning, at the same locality. 
The mob were evidently just as wild with excitement as 
at any time during the day, but upon the approach of 
the Second Regiment of militia, all indications to- 
ward actual violence passed away, after stones had been 
hurled in the air with the desired effect, and after three* 
soldiers and two policemen had been badly wounded. 
Some of the rioters were dangerously wounded. 

At a late hour in the evening of the 26th, the quiet 
suburban village of Lawndale, was the scene of one of 
the most brutal murders which disgraced the city during 
the continuance of the riots. The circumstances under 
which it was committed, were these : Mr. James White, 
a respected member of the Chicago Board of Trade, act- 
ing in the capacity of a special police officer, was patrol- 
ing his beat in that village, when he saw a person whose 
actions appeared to be suspicious Mr. White proceeded 
to arrest him, and was conducting him to the station, or 
headquarters in the village. The person under arrest 



PISTOLS AND CLCJBS. 33 T 

went quietly enough for some distance, but finally con- 
cluded not to submit to the arrest, and began to resist. 
While engaged in the struggle with his captor, the 
prisoner, suddenly drew a revolver, presented it at the 
head of Mr. White, and fired. The ball penetrated the 
brain and the unfortunate gentleman fell and expired in 
a few minutes. The fellow who had committed the 
horrible deed then fled, and was not arrested. The next 
day the merchants of the Board of Trade raised the sum 
of three thousand five hundred dollars, which was appro- 
priated for the benefit of the family of the deceased 
merchant. 

The field of operation during the day was confined 
to the district of the city between Canal and Green streets, 
and between Twelfth and Twenty-second streets. It was 
within these limits that the rioting was confined. In 
other parts of the city there were occasionally threatening 
demonstrations, but nothing came of them, save alarm to 
a few timid souls. 

All the afternoon and during the early part of the 
evening the police were busied in making arrests. Num- 
erous persons were taken to the lockups. Among them 
some who had been particularly conspicuous in inciting 
the rioters. One of the notable facts connected with the 
•events of this somewhat eventful day, was the presence 
and active participation of women in the riots. In the 
neighborhood of the viaduct on Halstead street, they were 
very demonstrative. Taking up positions in their houses, 
they encouraged the male members of the mob to attack 
the police, and were excessively abusive to every one who 
wore a white shirt, or a uniform. Nor did they stop 
with abusive words, and insulting epithets. Many of 
22 



338 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

them provided themselves with heaps of stones, pans of 
mud, and other dangerous and unpleasant munitions of 
war, and vigorously hurled them from the windows of 
houses upon the officers contending in the streets below. 
Not a few of these viragoes had pistols which they fired,, 
sometimes with evil effect, at the policemen. 

During the day the mob captured one of the Metro- 
politan Telegraph Stations, and prevented any despatches 
from being sent during the time they were in possession.. 

The Second Regiment of state troops were held as a 
reserve to the police force, during the conflict between the 
mob and the officers of the law. There was also a large 
force of special officers and independent companies, acting 
under the orders of the Mayor, in readiness to co-operate 
with the regular police force. 

The newspapers of Chicago gave a somewhat exagger- 
ated, but a very minute and complete history of all the 
incidents in connection with the conflicts between the 
police and the rioters. After the smoke had cleared 
away, after the fight was over and the mob dispersed, 
the before countless number of the slain of those fierce 
engagements was counted, and the number of those 
who sought and found gory graves were just seven. If 
Mr. White be regarded as one of the victims of the riot, 
then eight human beings had met death by violence since 
the riots began. This is the net result of various 
conflicts, which were heralded to the world as sanguin- 
ary battles, and the eight persons who lost their lives 
were all the dead of that " fearful carnage." 

If the day had been one of the most intense excite- 
ment, the evening was one of deepest anxiety to the 
people of Chicago. But except the gathering about 



PISTOLS AND CLUBS. 339 

Sixteenth and Halstead streets, which dispersed on the 
approach of the police and the military about eleven 
o'clock in the evening, the night wore away without 
further alarms. 

There is one thing which particularly requires to be 
noticed at this point. Among the killed and the 
wounded, among all the prisoners captured, there was 
not a single railroadman. This is a significant fact. 
"Who were the strikers ? The Pariahs of the streets, the 
Communists, the idle and the vicious, who were not 
working-men. who would not work for anv wages, at anv 
time. The railroadmen struck for higher wages, or to 
resist the reduction of the pitiful pittance they received 
for the dangerous services they performed, but they were. 
as a class, neither rioters, incendiaries, thieves nor mur- 
derers. The attempt to class the railroadmen with the 
mobs that showed so ugly a front in some of the large- 
cities of the country, deserves the stern reprobation 
of every man, actuated by a sense of justice and 
humanity. They do not deserve it, and those who claim 
that workingmen constituted the mob, do" so without 
evidence, and are guilty of slandering a useful class of 
citizens. 

The day of excitement had passed away in Chicago. 
the events of the day had become a part of the history 
of the times. Another day had dawned, and the rumor- 
mongers were early busy with all sorts of startling re- 
ports. There were numerous assertions made that the 
mob was preparing for a more desparate re-encounter 
with the police ; that they had secured arms and were 
organized, and would attempt to capture the city. The 
extravagance of the rumors circulated the day before., 



^40 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

"Jiad a tendency to discredit the sensational stories that 
were circulated during the morning of the 27th. The 
Mage, in time of peace prepare for war, had been acted 
upon by the military authorities, acting under the 
direction of the Mayor and Chief of Police. During 
•that morning the forces were distributed as follows : 
Stock Yards, sixty regulars; Chicago, Burlington and 
<Juincy Freight House, Sixteenth street, two hundred ; 
Twelfth street bridge, three hundred and fifty regulars 
-of the Second Regiment; corner Twefth and Halstead 
-streets, two hundred of the First Regiment; Canal Park 
:and South Morgan street, fifty of the First Regiment ; 
isouth side of the Gas-works, General Lieb's Battery, num- 
bering sixty -five men ; north side Water-works, sixty-five 
veterans ; Union Street Police Station, fifty of the Second 
Regiment; corner Chicago and Milwaukee avenues, a 
possible rendezvous of Communists, sixty veterans; Hal- 
stead street, north of Twelfth, forty of the Post Office 
Guard, while Dalye and Walrus Mounted Guard were 
constantly patrolling that dangerous section. 

Four hundred regulars were at the lake front awaiting 
orders. The regular and special police were at the center 
-of the trouble. Citizens with police powers were in 
■every section of the city. 

There were some small crowds collected on Halstead 
street, and on Archer avenue, but these evinced no dis- 
position to resort to violence. The sensation-mongers 
had no basis from which to send forth their exciting 
Lrumors. There was no mob, and of course there could 
be mo riot The mob had dissolved. The history of 
.the whole day's events would simply be a record of the 
evolutions of the mounted militia, and the police. The 



PISTOLS AND CLUBS. 34I ; 

Mayor issued another proclamation, in which he declared-, 
that the city authorities had dispersed all lawless bands 
in the city, and law and order were restored » He urged? 
and requested all business men and employers generally r 
to resume work and give employment, as much as possi- 
ble, to their workmen. He considered this the first duty; 
of the business. community. He said he was amply able 
to protect them and their workmen. 

Some unimportant strikes in stables, and among cigar- 
makers took place, but there was no unpleasant demon- 
strations in connection with them. 

The railroads were resuming business, and the city r 
though not in its normal condition of commercial activ- 
ity, was rapidly recovering from the depression caused by 
the excitement of the four or five days preceding. 

Chicago had indeed passed through an ordeal and hack 
come out of the difficulties, which at one time were so- 
threatening, with less loss of life and destruction of prop- 
erty than was expected. 

There are no reasons for doubting the statements made 
at the time that a large number of people stopped in Chi- 
cago, who would not hesitate to apply the torch to build- 
ings, or the knife to throats, if only the opportunity 
should present itself. Nor are there wanting proofs of 
the fact that a formidable attempt was made to create 
such an opportunity. It was fortunately frustrated.- 
The only thing to be lamented was the necessity to take- 
life in the suppression of disorders. This, however,, 
could not be avoided. The misguided, hapless beings,., 
who were hurried from the busy scenes of life on that 
day of turmoil and excitement, were men after all, men 
with dispositions not so greatly unlike those wMcL 



342 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

prompt other men, actuated by emotions of kindness and 
love, and wrath and hate, just as other men whose posi- 
tion in life and surrounding circumstances alone gives 
them a precedence and a preference in the world's regard. 
Were the seven men who met the messengers of death 
in Chicago more wicked than the thousands who escaped? 
We say certainly not. 

Meanwhile so far as the great strike affected Chicago 
it was practically at an end. There were a few days of 
uncertainty, perhaps anxiety in the public mind, but no 
further actual trouble was experienced, and within the 
week business resumed its wanted channels, and Chicago 
was at peace. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Anxious Days Elsewhere in Illinois. 



At the State Capital — Peoria Strikes — Miners in the Southern Section 
— The Braid wood Troubles — Troops Sent Down — Matters at Mat- 
toon — Effingham Idlers — The -Trainmen at Many Points — Shutting 
Up Shops in Various Provincial Towns — Peace Restored. 



On the 23rd day of July the coal companies shut 
down their mines at Mount Carbon and Murphys- 
1)01*0. The same evening a mass-meeting was called at 
Murphysboro of all miners, mechanics, and laborers on 
the Cairo and St. Louis Narrow-guage. The object ot 
the meeting was to consider whether they should all 
strike. Some of the miners had been out of work for 
some weeks, and their cry was for bread. The payment 
of the miners at Mount Carbon, and of the railroadmen 
of the Carbondale and GrandjTower road, due the 23rd, 
was postponed. 

The employes of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 
Railroad made a demand Monday, the 23rd, for ten per 
cent, increase of wages. The number of men engaged 
by the road at Quincy was about three hundred ; none 
•of them favored a strike. 

Other workingmen in the city offered to assist them, 
in case they struck, but the offer was declined. The 
'dompany stopped trains between Quincy and Galesburg, 
Tuesday, the 2ith. Freight cars were sent out to stations 
.-along the road and side-tracked. Passenger trains were 



344 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

running regularly. The "Wabash road had no trouble afc 
Quincy. The evening passenger train for Toledo was 
abandoned on the 23rd, and did not run for several days. 
The morning trains went out as usual. There was no 
rail communication between Quincy and St. Louis. A 
number of tramps arrived in the city of Quincy, attracted 
by prospects of a row. The National Guard and Quincy 
Guard were on duty at their armories. 

A small squad of railroad strikers arrived at Mount 
Vernon, Illinois, on the evening of the 25th, and caused 
some commotion in the machine shops of the St. Louis 
and Southeastern Kail way. Three shops give employ- 
ment to some eighty men, nearly all of whom had fami- 
lies, and sat under their own vines and fig trees, and had 
never been heard to express dissatisfaction with the 
wages they received, though this was denied by men on 
the strike. About nine o'clock in the morning several 
men, claiming to be acting under the authority of the 
executive committee of the strikers at East St. Louis, 
visited the shops for the purpose of explaining the situa- 
tion to the men, and inducing them to quit work. 

This committee was headed by Marion Rupert, an old 
fireman on the Southeastern Railroad. The committee 
were met by Mr. L. B. Salisbury, master mechanic, 
when a pleasant interview relating to the business in 
hand took place. Mr. Salisbury stated that while the 
men in the shops were at perfect liberty to quit work, if 
they so desired, they would be protected in their pur- 
poses to continue at work. At noon the men in the 
shops held a meeting to consider the situation and 1 
resolved to quit work at six o'clock in the the evening of 
the 25th. 



ANXIOUS DAYS ELSEWHERE IN ILLINOIS. 345 

Six companies of Militia, under Brigadier-General 
Pave j, were drilled in the Court House yard at Mount 
Vernon, and held in readiness for any call that might be 
made upon them. Meanwhile, no freight was received 
or sent forward. Farmers could find no outlet for their 
grain. Business of all kinds was stagnant, and a most 
deplorable state of things existed. 

On the 23d of July, all the freight cars on the Spring- 
field division of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, and 
all on the Chicago and Alton Railroad were ordered to 
be sent to Springfield, Illinois. Several freight trains 
on the latter road arrived at Springfield from the South. 
A double force of police was ordered on duty. The 
striking miners, four hundred in number, held a meeting 
at midnight at Springfield. 

The excitement was intense at that place all day. 
The Governor was in receipt of numerous telegrams 
from all parts of the State, offering the services of men 
if needed, to suppress any riot which might occur. The 
preparations were so complete, that in one hour not less 
than five thousand men could be embodied under the 
militia plan, exclusive of the two regiments in Chicago. 
These men were nearly all veterans, and all under the 
command of their old commanders. They were chiefly 
from the country districts, and were armed with breech- 
loaders. A great supply of ammunition for which arms 
was in the arsenal at Springfield, was well guarded. 
There were also one thousand Enfields with ammuni- 
tion and equipments. The Secretary of War offered a. 
supply of muskets and ammunition, and these arrived at 
designated points that night. The Governor and Adju- 
tant General had hopes that the strikers would not pro- 



346 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

ceed to acts of violence, and had confidence in the ability 
of the authorities to maintain peace, or in the last resort 
to suppress violence. Despatches from Chicago gave 
assurance of the ability to maintain peace there. 

Colonel Roe, United States Marshal at Springfield, 
received a despatch from Judge Drummond, at Chicago, 
ordering him to proceed at once to East St. Louis, and 
if there should be an unlawful interference by any, one in 
the running of the railroads in the possession of James H. 
Wilson, as receiver of the same by orders of the Circuit 
Court of the United States, for the Southern district of 
Illinois, he was directed to use his authority, as Marshal 
of the United States, to put a stop to such interference, 
and to protect the receiver in the operation of the rail- 
road, and for so doing, the despatch should be his 
warrant. 

The railroad was the St. Louis and Southeastern. 
United States Marshal Roe, had a conference with the 
Governor as to the amount of force which could be 
.supplied to support the Marshal, if requested, and it was 
•considered, upon looking over the whole situation, the 
force could be supplied to protect the line of the road. 
Marshal Roe, left Springfield for St. Louis, to examine 
the situation personally before he proceeded to make any 
movement. He was an officer of experience in the 
army, of undoubted spirit, and as it happened had 
already been called upon to surpress riotous proceedings 
as Marshal. It was not doubted that his conduct would 
be prudent and effective. 

At Waterloo, 111., July 28th, Charles Frick, Sheriff of 
Monroe county, received a telegram from F. E. Canada, 
Superintendent of the Cairo and St. Louis Railroad, to hold 



ANXIOUS DATS ELSEWHERE IN ILLINOIS. 347 

the special train from Murphysboro, and to hold all rail- 
road property in Monroe county subject to the order of 
the Company, and arrest Conductor Adams, one of the 
ringleaders of the strikers, which was done that evening 
by Mr. Frick and his armed posse. There were fifteen 
strikers aboard. ~No resistance was offered, Adams per- 
mitting himself to be quietly taken. Many of the 
-citizens of Waterloo were fearful that the action of the 
Sheriff would incite a riotous visit from some of the 
mob in East St. Louis. 

The negro miners who weredriven from the Braid- 
wood mines were encamped at Washington, at the Coal 
Companies expense, waiting until the trouble was set- 
tled, so they could resume work On the 28th, the 
Governor ordered the troops to go to Braidwood, and 
about eight hundred and fifty men went to that point. 

Orders were received for the Aurora Light Guard, 
Company E. Third Regiment, to hold themselves in 
readiness for marching orders. Captain "Vosburg at 
once laid in a supply of ammunition, and prepared for 
duty. On the morning of the 28th, marching orders 
were received, and the company, numbering about forty, 
left for Braidwood, via Chicago, reporting to Major- 
General Ducat. A constant patrol was kept up about 
Aurora, and especially about the Chicago, Burlington 
and Quincy Railroad yards. A number of strange men 
were seen in the shop-yard by the guard, and ordered to 
halt, and give an account of themselves. They ran,, 
firing several shots as they retreated. No one was 
injured, and only one man was arrested, he being a hard 
looking customer, who refused to say anything about 
himself, or his and his pals' object was in the Company's 



348 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

yard. It was thought their object was to fire the large 
shops of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Company, 
located there. The man was kept in confinement for 
some days. All was quiet at Aurora. Trainmen and 
engineers all along the line were at work. The shopmen 
had given up all idea of striking, and worked ten hours, 
a day. 

At Decatur, on the 25th, a committee of strikers 
visited the different manufacturing establishments, and 
ordered them to close, saying if they did not, force 
would be brought to compel them. The order was 
acceded to. The strikers said they would hold all trains 
until their demands were complied with. They num- 
bered several hundred. 

At Peoria, July 19, the police arrested the ringleaders 
in the riot of the previous day, and housed them safely 
in jail, after a desperate hand-to-hand encounter, in 
which the military took part. Fortunately none of the 
rioters were hurt. There were additional arrests of the 
ringleaders the following day. This action seemingly 
broke the mob, which made no show at all the next day. 
Passenger t2*ains left on the usual time, guarded by 
troops, and undisturbed by the mob. The jail was 
guarded by military, and the Board of Trade guarded 
the gas-works and water-works. 

At Champaign, July 29th, much excitement was oc- 
casioned on account of the action of strikers on the Indian- 
apolis, Bloomington and Western road. Intelligence was 
received that a company of strikers were en-route from 
Urbana to Champaign, to stop a train on that road. Mayor 
Trevell promptly put his forces, including militia, in order 
to prevent riotous demonstrations. The invaders marched 



ANXIOUS DAYS ELSEWHERE IN ILLINOIS. 349 

through the streets to the depot and found the train gone. 
They hastened out of town failing of any pretext for a riot. 
They asserted their purpose to hold out, but their 
power was broken. Mr. Cooper, foreman of the shops at 
Urbana, notified all shop hands, except the leaders of the 
strike, to begin work. Freight engines went out with 
freight trains. 

The governor was notified that the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company was in possession of its property at 
Chicago, and proposed to put on freight trains but that 
the road was blockaded at Mattoon, Effingham, Decatur 
and Carbondale, and the officers of the road wanted the 
Governor to give them protection. The Governor at once 
ordered the Sheriffs of the counties in which these 
blockades were maintained to call out their posses and 
break the blockades. The Harris Guards of Petersburg 
were brought to Springfield, and went on duty at the 
State Arsenal, relieving the Governor's Guards, which 
were sent to Decatur. The Governor's Guards occupied 
the Junction at Decatur, thus protecting the Illinois 
Central, the Wabash and the St. Louis branch at that 
point. 

Major Bluford Wilson telegraphed from St. Louis, that 
upon taking the proper steps, there was no doubt a 
sufficient United States force could be thrown into East 
St. Louis to take control of the town. The Governor was 
anxious before calling for any further aid from the United 
States, to try other measures, which he hoped would be 
•effectual. 

A number of the leading citizens of Southern Illinois 
liaving consented to act as deputy United States Marshals 
tor the purpose of restoring order and protecting prop- 



3 50 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

erty along the line of the St. Louis and Southeastern 
Railway, the following appointments were made by tel- 
egraph : M. K. Lawler and J. J. Cassels of Equality, 
and J. M. Crebs of Carmi. Mike Lawler is the old 
Colonel of the Eighteenth Illinois, who won his stars and 
lost his leg at the battle of the Big Black. Crebs is a 
lawyer and a democratic politician, and Cassels is equally 
well known as a leading republican of that part of the 
State. 

The representatives of all the roads at East St. Louis 
asked the Governor to allow General Jeff. C. Davis, IT. S. 
A., to occupy East St. Louis and the Governor replied in 
the affirmative. 

Governor Shelby M. Cullem, of Illinois issued a proc- 
lamation on the 27th, in which he recited the story told 
by other Governors before, that certain persons, active in 
rivlation of law had assumed to interfere and prevent the 
movement of railroad trains in that State, and had sought 
to intimidate honest workingmen engaged in the avoca- 
tions by which they earned their bread, and to compel 
them to cease from their labor ; and that such condition 
of affairs continued, and was intolerable, entailing dis- 
astrous consequences, the nature and extent of which was 
impossible to foresee, he therefore commanded all such 
riotous and disorderly persons to desist and return to 
their homes, and called upon all Sheriffs, Mayors and 
other officers charged with the execution of the laws to 
break up all conspiracies against the rights of property 
and persons, and to that end to employ every lawful 
means in their power, and to enjoin upon all citizens to 
assist in bringing about restoration of order, resumption 
of business, moving of trains and revival of manufactures. 

He further gave notice that the entire military force 



ANXIOUS DAYS ELSEWHERE IN ILLINOIS. 351 

at his disposal as commander-in chief of military, 
would be employed for the support of the civil authorities 
in the endeavor, and that orders would be given to troops 
to use whatever amount of force might be necessary to 
compel obedience to law. 

The most serious trouble which occurred in the State 
of Illinois, outside of Chicago, was experienced at 
Braidwood, a small mining town in the northern central 
part of the State. Sometime before the general labor 
uprising, the coal miners employed in mines at that 
place, had struck for better wages. The company ope- 
rating the mines refused to acceed to the demands of the 
miners, and imported a large number of colored miners, 
to take the places vacated by the striking miners. This 
greatly exasperated the white miners, and the company 
experienced no little trouble in protecting their new em- 
ployes from the vengeance of the old miners. How- 
ever, they managed to keep the colored men at work 
until the general uprising, when the striking miners rose 
en-mass and expelled the colored miners from the vil- 
lage. Indeed, they were fortunate to escape with their 
lives. General Ducat, with a strong force of State 
troops, was sent to Braidwood to restore order. For a 
time it appeared that very serious trouble would follow 
the advent of the militia. The striking miners were 
bold, defiant, and reckless in bearing. On several occa- 
sions collisions seemed inevitable. But by careful man- 
agement on the part of General Ducat, bloodshed was 
avoided. The colored miners returned on the 29th, and 
quietly resumed work in the pits. The state of feeling 
entertained against them by the strikers, however, was 
such that it was necessary for a guard to remain at 
Braidwood for several days, in order to protect them. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 



Blockade of the Gkeat Bridge. 



Excitement in East St. Louis — Scenes on "Bloody Island "—Council of 
the Trainmen— A Night at Heim's Hall— Hite's Thrilling Oratorical 
Flight— " Oppressed Labor" — " The Executive Committee" — Bold 
Jack Benson — Organized for Business — Across the Great Bridge — 
Trains Stopped — Slight Dissension Among the Strikers — Blue 
Coats in the Early Morning — General Jeff. C. Davis Moves Over — 
Resigning Potentates — Governor Cullom — General Bates — Exem- 
plary Conduct of the Strikers — The Last Scene. 



At East St. Louis the situation on the morning of the 
:22d of July, bid fair to be one of great moment to East 
St. Louis ; while those who knew the situation across 
the river were already beginning to appreciate what an 
awful calamity might befall St. Louis if the railroad 
strikers should take it into their heads to play as desperate 
a game as was played at Pittsburgh. East St. Louis is 
situated on the Illinois bank, and as its name implies is 
East of St. Louis, being directly opposite. It was once 
an island, a wild tract of land, and is famous in history 
as " Bloody Island," on account of the many duels fought 
on its shores, in the early history of St. Louis, when 
the code was recognized among " gentlemen of honor" 
as the only way to settle disputes of a serious character, 
and the only proper way of avenging wounded honor. 
Since the reign of railroads it has been the converging 
point of a network of all the railways approaching from 
the East, and has naturally become a populous and im- 



BLOCKADE OF THE GREAT BRIDGE, 353 

portant point. It will therefore at once be seen that as 
the railroads which fed St. Louis with freight and pas- 
sengers converged here, and thence across the great 
bridge and through the tunnel to the Union Depot, the 
strikers would be almost invincible if they could but 
once gain a firm foothold at East St. Louis. They were 
not slow in finding out, nor were the railway companies 
long in ascertaining that the enemy had met them, and 
that they were in the hands of the foe. 

At twelve o'clock, on the night of July 21st, the 
brakemen, firemen, and some switchmen, employed on 
the numerous lines of railroads centering at East St. 
Louis, had struck for the same pay as had been received 
before the January reduction. Reports had come in 
over the [Ohio and Mississippi roadj that " the boys at 
Seymour, Indiana, had set the ball to rolling the night 
previous." The news spread from mouth to mouth. 
The Toledo, Wabash and Western' employes were re- 
ceiving the same pay as had been previously given before 
the general reduction on the other roads, but the 
employes on this line, ceased work in order to assist 
their fellow workers, on the other roads. 

Meetings had been appointed for Saturday night, at 
eight o'clock, p. m., and by that hour East St. Louis pre- 
sented a livlier scene than it had ever presented before. 
At the time appointed every one, from humble section 
hands to the skilled engineers*, were alive to the import- 
ance of the event. The meeting was appointed for 
Heim's Hall, a spacious place, but its dimensions were 
not sufficient to contain the crowd, and other meetings 
were held in the open air, addressed by speakers who 



23 



354 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

were fired with enthusiasm in behalf of the laboring- 
men. 

There was nothing to do on the tracks, because the Gen- 
eral Freight Agents had telegraphed from St. Louis to 
Sub-agents at East St. Louis not to let any freight go until 
further orders. Thus, for the first time, people began to 
see that the pulsation in the great rail artery, which cros- 
sed the bridge, had stopped, and for the first time they 
realized the condition this predicament had placed on the 
commerce of the largest city west of the Mississippi, and 
hundreds flocked over from St. Louis to the Eastern 
suburb, to read the men who had dared to place the 
embargo upon traffic, and to listen to the stories of 
their wrongs as portrayed' by their leaders. 

The meeting at Heim's Hall was presided over by a 
man by the name of George Kessenger, brakeman on 
the Wabash Line. A damper was cast over the meeting 
by a call from a few T lookers-on present, for a speech 
from Hon. Luke H. Hite, ex-member of the Illinois 
Legislature, a lawyer, and of some prominence in the 
city, but hardly to be called a workingman in the sense 
the strikers viewed the matter. Mr. Hite is a leading 
politician of St. Clair County, in which East St. Louis is 
located, and did not wait for a second asking to mount 
the platform, w 7 here he dwelt upon the relation of capi- 
tal to labor. He said that the war just inaugurated was 
a war of the laboring men to gain what was their own. 
He severely denounced the system of paying high salaries- 
to railroad officers, and " sapping," as he said, " the very 
vitals of the laboring men to suport the luxuries of the 
officers." Mr. Hite's speech was of such tone and 
character as caused it to be received with great applause,. 



BLOCKADE OF THE GREAT BRIDGE, 355 

and in some instances, violent vociferation. After por- 
traying the wrongs of the strikers in their most ex- 
aggerated colorings, he told them that they held the key, 
and they could lock or unlock the commerce of a great city, 
even shut it out from the world. Great excitement here 
prevailed. Voices of " we will hold it ! " All h — 1 
can't stop us ! " were heard from various parts of the 
crowd. Perhaps no speech could have added more fuel 
to the name than Mr. Hite's. A thrilling orator; 
possessed of no mean intellectual capacity ; he fired 
minds that might have otherwise thought differently of 
the movement with the morrow's dawn. Other 
speeches followed until midnight found the strikers at 
fever heat, inspired by the spirit of leaders, some of 
whom were demagogues, but others, as thoroughly in 
earnest as Patrick Henry or Oliver Cromwell in their re- 
spective revolutionary times. Cheer after cheer was given 
by the rank and file for the men who had espoused their 
cause, and the few merchants and citizens who had come 
across the river from St. Louis, to see what they sup- 
posed were a handful of ragged men, went back to 
the city shaking their heads ominously. To add to the 
fears of the law-abiding, all sorts of rumors new through 
the air. It was whispered that there was a car-load of 
gunpowder on the track, and that it was to be used in 
blowing down the sides of the tunnel. Another was 
that there were several car loads of coal oil at the freight 
depots, which the strikers could at once run on to the 
bridge, and in a few moments destroy the Eastern ap- 
proach, which is composed of wood-work. Other wild 
nights of imagination were indulged in, and there was 
no wonder that the visitors from the Western end of 



356 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the bridge were frightened at its prospect, or that the 
humble burgers of East St. Louis, passed a restless 
night. 

Before the close of the Saturday night meetings, a 
fair organization was furnished for carrying out a pro- 
gramme of operations. Committees were appointed, as 
general conference bodies, to act together in electing an 
Executive Committee, which was to be considered the 
head of authority by all the strikers, and their orders 
were to be obeyed strictly. The following were the 
committee appointed. 

Ohio and Mississippi — P. Rodgers, J. Lynch and Dan 
Burke. 

Yandalia — J. McCarthy, Chas. Hunt and Wm. Wal 
pole. 

Indianapolis and St. Louis — Wm. Blanchard, Con. 
Connors and John Rouck. 

Union Railway and Transit Company — Jack McCabe, 
Joe James and Wm. Shea. 

Foreman Switchmen — Jas. Lynch, Tim Sullivan and 
Dennis Rush. 

These Committees, met in secret session the next day 
and elected an Executive Committee, but the names of 
the members, were not publicly announced. 

Monday, the 23rd, opened on a strange scene at East 
St. Louis. The Executive Committee at once determined 
not to stop passenger trains, but to stop all freight trains. 
There were at least five hundred strikers at East St. 
Louis. They took possession of the Relay Depot, where 
all passenger trains meet, captured the telegraph wires 
leading to the Union Depot, and in the early part of the 
morning kept up a constant clicking with their co-work- 



BLOCKADE OF THE GREAT BRIDGE. 357 

ers at the Union Depot, each party keeping the other 
posted in relation to the operations in progress. The 
Executive Committee in East St. Louis kept constantly 
closeted in a small shed, in which the East St. Louis end 
of the telegraph terminated, and from a small window 
issued their orders, which were carried out by subalterns. 
One of the first orders issued that showed a spirit of 
determination was to order the cattle yards, large en- 
closures, about two miles east of the bridge, to close, and 
allow no stock to leave the yards or to enter them. Feed, 
however, was allowed to be tranferred to the stock, and 
the strikers at East St. Louis avowed their intention of 
carrying on the war on humanitarian piinciples. Mayor 
Bowman, who was powerless in the hands of so large a 
force as was marshalled at the Relay Depot, could do 
nothing with his dozen policemen, and the Sheriff of the 
county, after having viewed the crowd, concluded they 
were too many for him, and returned to Belleville, the 
county-seat of St. Clair county, some fourteen miles 
distant, where a company of militia, under Captain An- 
del, had been duly sworn into service on the 4th day of 
July. The militia were not ordered out at that time by 
Governor Cullorn, of Illinois, as he did not wish to pre- 
cipitate a repetition of the Pittsburgh troubles. No 
sooner had the strikers found out their strength in East 
St. Louis than various orders were given by the com- 
mittee to request laborers at the different car shops to 
desist from work. In every case the laborers threw 
aside their aprons and their tools, and swelled the num- 
ber of strikers who stood around the Relay Depot, but 
were not put on duty as railroad guards. The first day 
closed in East St. Louis with the strikers triumphant and 



358 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

greatly encouraged. The campaign had been carefully 
and cooly conducted. 

Mayor Bowman had been requested by the East St. 
Louis Executive Committee, to go across to St. Louis and 
ascertain what the railroad companies would agree to 
do. That evening, Monday the 23rd, he made a speech 
to the strikers, giving the result of his trip across the 
river. 

Mr. Bowman's speech met with applause in spots 
where the companies were favorable to a compromise, 
and at the conclusion, the crowd dispersed, somewhat con- 
ciliated, and more than ever determined to win in the 
strike. 

Thus far no passenger trains had been stopped. One 
freight train had attempted to go^out on the Chicago and 
Alton road, but it was quickly mounted, the engineer 
pulled from his place, and the fire in the engine furnace, 
extinguished. 

Tuesday morning " opened dark o'er head," but the 
ardor of the strikers had not cooled, but on the contrary 
increased in intensity. Strikers in large numbers had 
passed the night as they did every night while they held 
the situation, in guarding railroad property, twenty mil- 
lion dollars worth of property was thus placed in the hands 
of these men to guard against tramps, and the ever present 
mob which associate themselves with a movement of 
this kind, for the purpose of plunder. To the honor of 
the strikers, be it said, that though the strike lasted ten 
days, not a pound of freight was stolen, nor a dollar's 
worth of property destroyed. 

Early on Tuesday, the 25th, two of the members of 
the Executive Committee committed the first blunder, 



BLOCKADE OF THE GREAT BRIDGE, 359 

ithe occasion of a small dissension in their ranks. Without 
having a conference with the other members of the 
committee, they decided to stop passenger trains. The 
•other three members of the committee were in St. 
Louis, and had been there all night for the purpose of 
further planning the campaign. The first train stopped 
was the Vandalia mail and express. As all trains have to 
^.stop at the Kelay Depot in East St. Louis before switching 
on to their respective roads, there was no chance for 
trains to run the blockade, even though no obstructions 
had been placed on the tracks. No sooner had the Van- 
dalia train, arrived at the Relay Depot, at 9:30 in 
the morning, than Jack Benson, the boldest of all the 
strikers, stepped between the mail coach and the next 
passenger coach and told the conductor to go on as they 
did not wish to obstruct the mails. Immediately at 
least five hundred strikers, together with two or three 
Liutidred miners who had joined in the movement, sur- 
rounded the train, and with their whooping and cheer- 
ing succeded in frightening the conductor, as well as a 
number of ladies on the train, whose minds were fresh 
from reading the terrible record of the Pittsburgh riots, 
.and who feared a mob would ensue. Benson was backed 
by another member of the committee, and conductor 
Mac Mahon surrendered the situation. At this time, 
another member of the committee arrived on the spot, 
and denounced the movement as premature, and that 
the two strikers had acted without authority. He said 
that if trains were to be stopped, they should be stopped 
.at the Union Depot, and not subject the passengers to be 
dumped out that far away from home. After a half 
tour's delay, the whole train was allowed to proceed. 



360 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

This little break was the first made in the strike, and, 
resulted in a telegram from the East St. Louis Execu- 
tive Committee, asking the latter to stop all passenger 
trains from going out at Union Depot, But the St. 
Louis committee were not to be governed by- this order,. 
and were discreet enough to pay no attention to it, and 
all trains desiring to depart were allowed to do so. The 
managers of theOhio and Mississippi, 'and the St. Louis 
and Southeastern^— both being in the hands of receiv- 
ers by the decree^of the United States Court, determin- 
ed only to send mail cars, without passenger coaches. 

In the afternoon of Tuesday, a large delegation seized 
three coal flats and an engine, and in command of the 
Executive Committee, went across the bridge and form 
ing in line at the Union Depot, marched to the Missouri 
Pacific Car Works, and stopped the men at that estab- 
lishment. 

That night the East Louis strikers seized several coal 
flats and went across to St. Louis, where they joined in 
the procession which marched through that city. 

During these two eventful days, the miners of St.. 
Clair county had been holding meetings at Belleville, 
at which some loud talk and braggadocio had been in- 
dulged in by fiery leaders. Kesolutions were adopted 
by the miners, setting forth their sympathies in the 
work the railroad employes were engaged in, and assur- 
ing them that one thousand men were at their command 
at any time, should they be needed. . As before stated, a 
large number of miners from the coal regions in the 
vicinity of Belleville repaired to East St. Louis as spec- 
tators, but subsequently, as will be seen, left the field asv 
as soon as danger approached. 



BLOCKADE OF THE GREAT BRIDGE. 361 

Wednesday and Thursday were uneventful days in 
that week of the strike at East St. Louis, with the excep- 
tion of the total stoppage of all trains on Thursday, by 
the railway companies themselves. At the meeting of 
the East St. Louis Strikers Executive Committee on Fri- 
day morning, four of the five resigned, and their places 
were filled. Jack Benson alone remained firm. The 
cause of the resignation was probably the fear of Govern- 
or Cullom's appearance on the field, and the results which 
might follow his order for all the militia of Central and 
Southern Illinois to repair at once to East St. Louis 
Four other bold strikers were at once put in the place of 
men who resigned, and the new committee at once 
resolved that, as one of them expressed it, they would 
" hold the strike, even against the legions of hell." 

Saturday morning opened bright and lovely, and 
while the rays of the sun as it rose, reddened the win- 
dows of the tall houses, lining the levee in St. Louis y . 
General Jefferson C. Davis, with four hundred and some 
odd men of the United States army, eight companies 
in all, were taken on board the St. Louis Harbor Boat 
(Elon G. Smith) about 3 :30 a. m., at the arsenal, whence 
they proceeded to the bridge, landing about a quarter of 
a mile south of the structure. They passed up to the 
roundhouse, but found no one there; they went to the 
Relay Depot where was found a large body of " strikers." 
They were ordered to disperse, which request they 
complied with. 

Company E made three arrests ; no one hurt ; not a, 
single shot was fired. One of the members of Company 
D captured a musket. Three freight trains have had 
their engines fired, and were sent over. The members- 



362 



THE GKEAT STRIKES. 



of the crew of the El on G. Smith congratulated Captain 
J. F. Morehead for the manner in which the short cam- 
paign was conducted. 

The eight companies of General Davis' regulars were 
stationed all along the lines of the different railroads, 
with the exception of one company, to guard the Belay 
Depot. All the passenger trains leaving the Union 
Depot were allowed to proceed on their way without 
obstruction from the strikers. 

By Sunday morning,^ten companies of militia from the 
interior of the State had arrived in East St. Louig Over 
these General Bates was placed, as commanding officer. 
The militia were distributed at different points, and had 
little to do except to guard railroad property. The 
Sabbath passed off quietly, and the backbone of the strike 
at that point was broken. There was a quieter appear- 
ance on Monday morning, July 30tfi] than at any time 
during the strike. What had become of the strikers? 
was a conundrum not easy to be answered. Where, for 
a week, the strikers had held high carnival, soldiers of 
the United States and militia men were seen in military 
squads, some in guard of the Belay Depot, some guard- 
ing property, and others camped about in the vicinity 
with their stacked arms close at hand. There was a 
military aspect in the view which carried the spectator 
back to the days of the Confederate war. \Colonel Tfctmes j 
Boe, United States Marshal for the Southern District of 
Illinois, had quietly arrived on Saturday night, and was 
left in charge by Governor Cullom, of all the militia, 
and requested by the Governor to decide all matters of 
dispute, and, in fact, direct the campaign. Colonel Boe, 
while an aged man in appearance, was young in in- 



BLOCKADE OF THE GREAT BRIDGE. 363 

tellect, and to him much of the credit of an early termi- 
nation of the strike in East St. Louis is due. He had 
hardly arrived on the ground when he put detectives, 
which he had brought with him from Springfield and 
Chicago, on the track of the leaders conducting the 
strikes. The detectives were not long in ascertaining 
the prime movers, and as fast as they were discovered, 
warrants were sworn out against them. These warrants 
embraced in their comprehensiveness all the members 
of the original Executive Committee, together with the 
added members of the new, nine in all. These warrants 
were not served immediately after being sworn out 
except in two cases. These two were served on two of 
the existing committee, Benson and Gainey, who were 
immediately arrested by the militia, and placed in the 
guard-house, which consisted of an empty freight car, 
and were taken that night to Springfield, where they 
were subsequently tried, found guilty of contempt of 
court in disobeying the decree of the court in interfer- 
ing with trains on the Ohio and Mississippi, and St. 
Louis and Southeastern Railroads. 

By Tuesday, the historic " Bloody Island " of East 
St. Louis, presented pretty much the same appearance 
as it did before the strike, the cheerful whistle of the 
engine was heard on all the "tracks, and the busy bustle 
in making up freight trains, was noticed on every hand. 
Passenger trains were leaving on time, without the least 
molestation, either at East St. Louis or any other points 
on the different roads. Occasionally a lone striker could 
be seen pensively contemplating the scenes of which he 
and his companions were but yesterday masters, but 
most of the strikers were scattered to the winds. Their 



36± THE GREAT STRIKES. 

leaders had been captured or had deserted, there was 
nothing to keep the organization together, and it dis- 
banded. The number of arrests made in East St. Louis 
during the strike, were but twenty-seven, most of whom 
were " taken in " as suspicious characters. All but the 
two taken to Springfield, were released on Tuesday. /By 
Thursday of the second week of the strike^} the militia- 
men had left for their homes, and the United States 
troops alone remained, under charge of Colonel Smith, 
to guard Government property. These troops remained 
at East St. Louis for two weeks, when, it having been 
ascertained that the strikers had all gone to work, and 
were showing no hostilities, the troops were ordered to 
the arsenal, in St. Louis. In the conclusion of this chap- 
ter, it must be admitted, and cheerfully acknowledged, 
that the conduct of the strikers was most exemplary. Led 
on by hot-headed politicians, in the out-start, their leaders 
as well as the rank and file remained cool and deter- 
mined till over-powered by the soldiery, and throughout 
the strike, not only did no destruction to life or property, 
but even took upon themselves the duty of conserving 
the peace, and guarding the property which they had 
assumed temporary charge of. One touch of the fire 
brand in certain localities, where miles and miles of cars 
stood, piled as it were together, and there would have 
been a conflagration, such as would have made the 
horrors of Pittsburgh pale into insignificance. As it 
was, there was not a drop of blood shed, nor a particle 
of property injured, and when they saw that capital as 
it always has, had crushed them, and scattered their 
hosts, they went back to their labors, determined to ac- 
cept the situation. 



CHAPTER XX7IL 



Demonstrations in St. Louis. 



The Strike in the West — East St. Louis sends Emissaries Across the 
Great Bridge — The Workingmen Aroused — The Valley Metropolis 
Shaken by a Mighty Wave of Excitement — Marching Mobs — The 
Internationalists — Vox et Prasterea Nihil — Black Bummers — Dis- 
graceful Scenes — The Mob — Demand of the Pacific Railroad Em- 
ployes — Oliver Garrison, General Manager — How he Broke the 
Back-bone of the Strike — Measures for Protection. 



The strikes at Martinsburg and Cumberland, furnished 
some interesting news to the daily papers, which was read 
without exciting any particular public interest in West- 
ern cities. But the startling character of the events, 
which quickly succeeded the Martinsburg strikes, in 
Baltimore, created a profound sensation in the city of 
St. Louis. The strike, it was seen, had already become 
formidable. The boldness which characterized the move- 
ments of the strikers along the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad ; the persistence and dangerous disposition of 
the mob in the streets of Baltimore, which, regardless of 
consequences, attacked armed regiments of men, were 
sufficient to not only enlist the attention, but to impress 
upon the people of St. Louis, a sense of insecurity and 
unrest. The public mind was not at rest, on Saturday 
evening, August 21st, St. Louis was already affected. 
But if the incidents in Martinsburg and Baltimore were 
startling in sensational interest, what must have been the 
feelings with which the people received intelligence of 



366 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the appalling catastrophy at Pittsburgh. The news 
created not only a sensation, but a profound feeling of 
alarm. It was evident now that it was not alone the 
railroadmen who were engaged in the movement, it 
was equally apparent that the trouble was not confined 
to a few localities in the East, but that it was no longer 
a probability that it would move West, perhaps involve 
every section of the country, and assume proportions 
threatening to the existence of the Government itself. 

It would not be an easy task to describe the intensity 
of the excitement which pervaded all classes of the citi- 
zens of St. Louis, on Sunday, July 22d. In that city, 
the only organized militia force was a company of 
colored men. Two companies of volunteer militia had 
disbanded only a short time before. The police force of 
the city, so far as numbers go, was always weak to 
maintain order in so large a city. In the whole State of 
Missouri, there were not so many as three hundred men 
in military organizations. A city with almost half a 
million of inhabitants was dependent on a well organ- 
ized and efficient, but numerically weak body of police of 
less than five hundred men. In a population so large, it 
was but reasonable to suppose that there were a large 
mass of persons unemployed, poor, disspirited, hopeless 
ready to sieze upon any occasion to improve their really 
deplorable condition. Then there were the Pariahs, the 
men who never perforin useful labor, and never intend to y 
the idle, vicious, thieves and tramps, present in all large 
populations, and whose existence could not be ignored in 
a time of trouble. Perhaps there were not less than 
fifteen thousand men idle, not because of an indisposi- 
tion to labor, but because they could not procure it ; then 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 36T 

there were "the always idle," who perhaps number in 
St. Louis not less than three thousand ; then the iirst 
note of coming trouble brought to the city a vast horde 
of peripatetic vagrants, who had been operating in the 
country. Such were the social elements to be considered 
in the event of trouble in the city. Here then were* 
perhaps twenty to twenty-five thousand people, who had 
no individual interest in the maintenance of law and 
order. But these were not all the elements. [ There was 
another class of persons, perhaps as numerous as any 
other class of St. Louis, who were removed from imme- 
diate want, tradesmen and "artisans, with here and there 
a man of thought and culture, who believed that back 
of the movement .there was a justifying cause ; men who 
believed, with the earnestness of martyr-confessors, that 
labor under existing conditions did not receive its due 
reward, but who, nevertheless, were upholders of law and 
friends of order, yet who were not inclined to be precip- 
itate in assisting to crush workingmen, when they be- 
lieved in the depths of their hearts that the laborers were 
contending for that which was their due. Until mobs- 
sought to apply the torch and wield the bloody knife, no 
help could be expected from them. Then came the 
capitalists, and their retainers. These beheld the west- 
ward course of the mighty wave of popular passion with 
consternation and profound dread. But, be it said, that 
t;]ere were among the men who control large capital and 
employ many men, some who could realize the situation,, 
and offer a genuine sympathy, and were prepared to 
extend a helping hand to those who toiled for them. To 
these men St. Louis owes a debt of gratitude, for to them 
is due, in a large measure,the peaceable solution of the dim- 



368 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

culty between labor and capital in St. Louis. Neither the 
police force nor the citizen-soldiery, so quickly organized, 
separate nor combined would have been able, with great 
loss of life, and perhaps immense destruction of property, 
to have suppressed disorders, had there been a general 
and determined strike among the workingmen of St. 
Louis. But there was no such thing as a united and 
-enthusiastic labor strike in the city. 

In East St. Louis there was a large force of striking 
railroad employes, and their propinquity to St. Louis, 
•exercised some influence on a certain class of working- 
men. There were discontented laborers in various em- 
ployments, but the mass of the workingmen of St. 
Louis were not enthusiastic strikers. And the fact that 
there were some persons in the city, who employed 
large numbers of men, who possessed a clear judgment 
as to the nature of the trouble, and humane feelings as 
regards the persons who labored, in part explains the 
freedom from actual collisions which St. Louis enjoyed. 
No life was lost. If Colonel Thomas A. Scott had been 
guided by the reason, and actuated by the humanity 
which marked the course pursued by Mr. Oliver Gar- 
rison, manager of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, there is 
room to believe that the loss of life and destruction of 
property which attended the strikes there, would not 
have occurred. Indeed, the conduct of all the railway 
managers of lines running west from St. Louis, during 
those days of doubts and fears, was commendable. Hon. 
Thomas Allen, President of the St. Louis Iron Moun- 
tain and Southern Railroad, had not reduced the wages 
of his employes, and on that account the men had no 
ground for complaint. Mr. Allen on account of litiga- 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 369 

tion, had been unable to meet promptly the payment of 
wages due his men, and as a consequence, that Company 
was behind with their wages account. This was the 
only cause for apprehension of a strike among the em- 
ployes. And the reasons for the delay in payment was 
generally understood, and the President and his officers 
had in no small measure the sympathy of every employee 
on the road. 

On the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway, 
there was no pretence of a general strike. On the Missouri 
Pacific Eailroad there was dissatisfaction. The wages had 
been reduced to a figure that the men declared insufficient 
for the support of themselves and families. When, there- 
fore^ the tide had reached St. Louis, and the whole com- 
munity was filled with apprehension, the employes of 
the Pacific Railway held a meeting, and appointed a 
committee to wait upon Mr. Talmage, and demand a 
restoration of the wages paid before the January reduc- 
tion. A meeting of the local directors was called, the 
President of the road, Commodore C. K. Garrison, not 
being in the city to consider the demand, Mr. Oliver 
Garrison, the Yice President and General Manager of 
the Company, considering the situation of the city, and 
the safety of millions of dollars worth of property of 
more importance than to play the dictator and tyrant, 
readily assented to the restoration of wages paid em- 
ployes to a sum satisfactory to them. This action of Mr. 
Garrison, who was in a position to dictate the policy of 
the Company, was of the very highest moment to the 
whole people of St. Louis. He might have refused ; the 
men might have gone on a strike, to the number of a 
thousand or so; they might have become exasperated 



370 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

during a period of unwonted excitement; they might 
have enlisted thousands of their friends ; they might 
have given at any rate a moral support to the lawless 
elements, and remained at least passive while the torch 
was lighted to spread wide around the fires of rain — all 
these things might have occurred, had Oliver Garrison 
proved as false in judgment, and as soulless in disposition 
as some other railroad managers proved themselves to be 
during those days of alarm. Mr. Garrison's judgment dic- 
tated the policy of concession, and his impulses sanctioned 
not only the expediency, but the justness of the conclusion,, 
and as for the employes of the road, he manages, when 
the general turmoil was so great as to force them to quit, 
they became the guardians of the property of the Com- 
pany in whose service they were engaged. And the 
concession made to the employes of the Pacific Railway 
was of incalculable value to St. Louis. 

By the course pursued by Mr. Garrison, some six or 
eight hundred men — honest, hard-working persons, hav- 
ing a status and influence with people of their own class, 
were withdrawn from active participation in the move- 
ment, and became at once the upholders of law and 
friends of order. In truth, there were no strikes among 
the railroadmen west of the river in the vicinity of St. 
Louis. Nor were there strikes among the operatives in 
a large number of the largest manufacturing establish- 
ments in the city. It is true, indeed, that business was 
suspended, that at one time nearly all the shops, mills, 
and factories in the city were closed. But this was not 
because of dissatisfaction among the employes. There 
was, indeed, a strike among the longshoremen and roust- 
abouts, but that only continued a few hours, for as soon 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 371' 

as. the packet companies and levee contractors had ac- 
ceded to their demands, they resumed work, and there 
was. no more trouble on their account. The employes of 
a few founderies and shops also struck, but these of them- 
selves were unimportant, and only derived importance 
from the general situation of the country. In most 
instances, shops, factories, mills, and founderies were 
closed by a disreputable rabble, in the ranks of which 
very few members of the operative and industrial classes 
were to be found — a rabble composed principally of 
chronic idlers and vicious characters, that ought to have 
been suppressed on their first appearance on the streets. 
Had not the situation of the country been just such as it 
was, doubtless the idle mob would have been speedily 
dispersed by the police. 

Such was the situation of affairs in St. Louis during 
the first few days of the so-called reign of the strikers. 
It would be difficult to find a sufficient reason for the 
unaccountable panic, we might almost say paralysis ot 
public opinion, which supervened on the first appearance 
of a formidable strike among the railroad employes at 
East St. Louis, on any other ground than the contagion 
of smypathy, and the fear of a repitition of the scenes 
at Pittsburgh. If the difference in the social, industrial, 
and moral characteristics of the people of St. Louis and 
Pittsburgh had been considered, there need not have 
been any fear of a re-enactment of similar scenes in St. 
Louis, even with precisely the same provocations to law- 
lessness. 

But fortunately no such provocation existed. In most 
cases the working people of St. Louis, though none of 
them were overpaid, were contented 'with the wages 



372 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

they received, and in other cases employers, actuated by 
correct reason, and humane impulses, acceded to the de- 
mands of their employes on their first presentation. 
There was left, then, no class in so bad a condition as to 
evoke the sympathy of every humane person. In this 
respect the social conditions at St. Louis were very un- 
like those which obtained at Pittsburgh. There a mul- 
titude of hard working men had had their wages 
repeatedly reduced, and in addition to the low pay, were 
compelled to perform services double the amount 
formerly required to be rendered, thus being oppressed 
in a degree that extorted the universal sympathy of the 
whole population in their behalf. It was difficult for 
men actuated by the ordinary impulses of humanity to 
assist in crushing men so deeply wronged. And they 
would not do it. The result was the rabble of Pitts- 
burgh taking advantage of the known sympathy of the 
people for the railroadmen in their contest, proceeded step 
by step in lawlessness, growing hour by hour in numbers, 
became in no very long time a mighty force, wholly 
uncontrolled by the popular sentiment or civil forces of 
society. But in St. Louis the case was different. There 
was at no time danger of such a catastrophe as befell 
Pittsburgh, being repeated in St. Louis, because in St. 
Louis were only the ordinary " swell mobs " in lawless 
rebellion, while in Pittsburgh the majority of the 
people, until after the revelations made by the tremen- 
dous disasters, which blighted that city, were unques- 
tionably in earnest sympathy with the strikers, among 
whom all the rioters were first classed. When the dis- 
covery was made that the sympathy of the people had 
been wasted on the rabble, and that the strikers were 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 373 

not benefitted, there was a revulsion, and the people 
rose, and the mob was speedily suppressed. What Pearson 
and Brinton, and Hartranft and Hancock could not do 
by the use of all the paraphernalia of war-like demon- 
strations, and aroused public sentiment speedily accom- 
plished. That public sentiment did not need an awaken- 
ing in St. Louis. It was law-abiding all the while, and 
none were more staunch in their devotion to law and 
order than the mass of the workingmen. If there had 
been a general strike of laborers, and they had been 
actuated by the lawless spirit imputed to them by some 
journals, they might easily have taken possession of St. 
Louis, and sacked it at their leisure. But it is a false- 
hood, it matters not who gives it utterance, to say that 
the workingmen of St. Louis, as a class, are more law- 
less than the merchants or the manufacturers, the 
brokers and bankers as classes in society. But hunger 
teaches many things, 44 ' and the toiler may learn the 
ways of dishonesty under the guidance of such a teacher, 
the Credit Mobilier class of gentlmen, the corruption- 
ists in official position, the men who appoint other men 
to official stations with fat salaries annexed, whose chief 
recommendation is their having handled the funds of 
corrupters of legislation, needs no such instructor in the 
ways of the dishonest and the shameless. They have 
the innate disposition ; with such, dishonesty is intuitive. 
But in this age, there is a materialism in politics, based 
on a social organization, wholly selfish in the formulae 
of which we find as one of the propositions that 
"Money makes the man complete. God makes, and 



*Multa docet fames. Tacitus uses this proverb in describing the mode of life 
practised by the Britons. 



374 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

apparel shapes, but money makes the man."f Hence, 
the chief object must be the acquisition of money ; it 
makes no difference how, only if the law be not so 
flagrantly violated as to call for an inflction of its penal- 
ties. Moral obligations must be disregarded. But when 
this is accomplished, what then % Some will have, and 
some will have not, and then will come a time when 
famishing cannot, and will not listen to reason.§ Then 
will come the day of retribution. And the men whose 
hands have been defiled by the goodly Babylonish gar- 
ments, and the golden wedges of the corrupters will cry 
unto the mountains to fall upon them, and the rocks to 
hide them. Some one is wronged when the idle reap 
the fruits of toil without returning any equivalent. 
Dishonest men will then not be furnished with the best 
offices, as has been done in the National and in the State 
government, not in the long ago, but in the recent past. 
Such were some of the minor facts which had a direct 
bearing on the situation at St. Louis. Men who, though 
not perhaps to be classed among the workingmen, were 
yet so deeply imbued with principles of honor, and a 
sense of justice, that they could not refuse to consider 
the demands of honest labor for a just compensation. 
But these men were neither Communists, nor incen- 
diaries, and any assertion that such men were enemies to 
the individual rights of property, can emanate only 
from the brain of a knave or a fool. There is, there 
can be no conflict between labor and capital ; there is : , 

"\El dinero'haze al hombre entero. Garciliso de Vega, employs the expressionia 
desctibing the effects of the sudden influx of gold and silver on the conquest of Mexico 
and Peru, when returning Peasant Conquistadors were hailed as persons of superior 
quality. It was the prelude to the decay of Spain. 

%El vientre ayuno no oye a ninguno. ll The empty belly hears no one," said by 
Contreras, of the famishing and mutinous ganison of Pampeluna tJ •, . ; 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 375 

and must ever "be a conflict between honesty and dis- 
honesty. It is an irrepressible conflict. 

Little knots of men gathered on sidewalks, on Sun- 
day, and disscussed the situation. There was everywhere 
manifested a sentiment hostile to lawless out-breaks, 
such as had characterized the mob at Pittsburgh, but 
the weight of public sympathy, was with the strikers, 
so far as their alleged grievances were concerned. On 
Sunday night, an immense mass meeting of railroad 
men, and their sympathizers, was held in East St. Louis. 
In that meeting were a large delegation from "The 
Workingmens Party of the United States," in other 
words, of the St. Louis Communists, who went over to 
-strengthen the courage of the railroadmen. The strike, 
as we have already related, was inaugurated in East St. 
Louis, on Sunday evening. In St. Louis, there was a 
certain fear, and looking for the wrath to come, but 
Sunday and Monday came, and passed away without 
any startling incidents. Business was dull, on account 
of the interruption of trains, en-route East, there was 
considerable excited discussion on street corners, but 
otherwise, until in the evening of Monday, there was no 
demonstrations of sufficient magnitude, as to attract 
public attention. The Sunday meeting of u The Work- 
ingmens Party," at Turner Hall, was a regular weekly 
meeting, and excited no considerable amount of interest. 
Their march through the streets to East St. Louis, in the 
evening, possessed more significance. The number of 
men in the procession, was a surprise. That was all. 

At Carondelet, the seat of immense blast furnaces 
and rolling mills, employing large numbers of men, the 
excitement was very great, although, no act of violence, 



S7G THE GREAT STRIKES. 

nor even a strike had as yet been inaugurated. There- 
was considerable discussion in relation to the general 
disturbance in the country, there was none of the in- 
cendiary talk which characterized the rabble in all 
cities. ^ 

On the 23rd of July, a committee, which had been 
appointed by a meeting of employes of the Missouri 
Pacific Railroad, waited upon the officers of that road, 
and demanded the restoration of wages, to the amount 
received prior to the reduction of January 1st, 1877. 
The Company proposed to return to the wages paid 
prior to May 15th of the present year. This was- 
declined by the men, and after further conference, the 
Company agreed to the terms demanded by the employes 
and peace was assured between the officials, and the 
men they employed, and St. Louis, was saved from the 
annoyance and possible danger which the presence of 
many hundred exasperated men might have caused.. 

The employes of the St. Louis, Kansas City and 
Northern Railroad, were generally indisposed to take 
any part in the strike. They were paid better wages 
than the employes of most of the roads running out of 
St. Louis, and did not care to jeopardise their position 
by inconsiderate haste in action. 

The Iron Mountain Railroad employes were not 
disposed to complain at the wages received. The only 
ground of complaint was the delay experienced in get- 
ting their wages after having earned them. Between 
the officers and the men, relations were pleasant. P'ast 
misfortunes and recent litigation were assigned as the 
cause for the delay in payment of the wages of employ es r . 

The employes of that road demanded, that the Company 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 37T 

should establish and observe a regular pay day between 
the first and fifteenth days of each month. The com- 
mittee appointed by employes of that road had a pleasant 
conference with Col. W. R. Arthur, Superintendent of 
the ioad, and an amicable understanding was arrived at.. 
The men returned to their work, and but for the inter- 
ruption caused by outside interference, trains would have 
run regularly on that road during the whole time while 
the strike continued. 

It was a noticeable fact that the strikers remained re- 
markably sober throughout the troubles. There was no 
indulgence in debaucheries, and drunkenness among the 
railroad strikers was almost unknown. 

On Monday evening, July 23rd, was held the first of 
a series of open air meetings, under the auspices of the 
" Workingmen's Party," otherwise known as the Inter- 
nationalists, or Communists, which were remarkable on 
many accounts. No such demonstrations had ever before- 
taken place in the city. The appearance of new organ- 
izers, and hitherto unheard orators, as leaders of the 
masses, created no little sensation among all classes. It 
may be too, that the vastness of the audience which 
greeted these preachers of a new political gospel, had 
anything but a soothing effect on the timid minds of 
some of the wealthiest, and therefore regarded as leading 
citizens of St. Louis. The radicalism of the doctrines 
enunciated, the boldness which characterized the leaders,. 
the number of people who went to hear them, were all 
circumstances that conspired to create a general feeling 
of uneasiness among the "propertied classes," as the anti- 
Communists were termed by the orators of the Working- 
men's Party. It was a new revelation to some, that ia 



378 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the midst of St. Louis, communism had not only found 
a congenial element, but had grown really strong, while 
people quietly allowed events to take their course. 

The Lucas Market meeting of Monday night was pre- 
liminary to others which were to follow. But it gave 
the public some idea of the grounds of complaint upon 
which the workingmen stood and contended, and it re- 
vealed the existence in the community of a body of men 
who held the most radical principles of communism, and 
holding such opinions, were nevertheless able to command 
the presence of immense audiences of the sturdy work- 
ingmen of the city to listen to the rabid radicalism 
taught by their orators. But the leaders of the Commune 
in St. Louis made a mistake when they supposed that 
they had engaged all the thousands who attended their 
open air meetings as converts to their doctrines, or ad- 
herents of their cause. It was probably this mistake 
which caused that undeniably remarkable, and somewhat 
mysterious body, celebrated in the history of the strikes 
in every city as "The Executive Committee," to ful- 
minate those wonderful proclamations, which, in the light 
of subsequent events, appear so much like grim humor, 
uttered at the expense of a panic stricken population.; 
The same sort of mistake was made by the citizens and' 
the municipal authorities, and fear fell upon the people 1 
and upon their rulers. The speeches of Lofgreen, Mc- 
Carty, Goodhue, and Currlin, were listened to because 
men felt they had a right to hear what was said, and intel- 
ligence enough to believe so much as it might please them 
to accept as correct. But the daily and nightly meetings, 
the processions and speeches, and above all, the unpar- 
alleled boldness and audacity of tone displayed in those 



DEMONSTRATIONS EN ST. LOUIS. 3?$ 

imique productions, the orders, diplomatic correspon- 
dence, and ultimatums of " The Executive Committee," 
unquestionably had no small influence in creating a feel- 
ing of dread in the public mind, and enforcing a beliei oh 
the part of the municipal authorities that they were help- 
less, with the means at command to suppress the disorders. 
Tuesday, July 24th, showed a marked increase in the 
number of the crowds gathered on the streets, and also 
manifestations of turbulence, which were unpleasant to 
•contemplate. The most important incident of the day 
in connection with the movements of the strikers, was 
the visit made by a large delegation of the East St. 
Louis strikers to the city. They went to the car shops 
of the Missouri Pacific Kailway, and had a conference 
with the men employed there. The leader of the strik- 
ers, Mr. Easton, made a speech, in which he repelled the 
charge that he and his fellows were thieves, tramps or 
lawless marauders, but declared that they were honest 
•men who were seeking a means by which their honest 
labor could be made to yield them a reasonable amount 
•of food to sustain themselves and families. Although 
the Pacific Railroad Company had acceded to the de- 
mands of its employes, and they therefore had no further 
cause for complaint, nevertheless, in deference to the 
wishes of the East St. Louis strikers, they concluded to 
quit work during the existence of the strike, and so the 
shops were closed. On the same day, the same company 
of strikers visited the Harrison Wire Works, where a 
large number of men were employed, and advised the 
men to quit, with which advice the employes in that 
establishment readily complied. About eleven o'clock the 
same morning,twenty-five railroad men from East St. Louis 



380 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

marched to the Union Depot, and took possession of an 
engine and freight train belonging to the Missouri Pa 
cifie Railroad, ordering the trainmen to stop work. 
"Why should we do that, inquired the men, the Company, 
has given us our price, and we are perfectly satisfied." 
The men replied that "that made no difference, as the 
boys over here must help their brethren elsewhere. " 
They then forced the men to stop work and side-tracked 
the train. 

The officers of the St. Louis, Kansas City and North- 
ern Railway Company did not even wait for their train- 
men to petition them for an increase of wages. No pe- 
tition was ever presented. But when the managers 
learned that the Missouri Pacific Railway Company had 
agreed to an increase of present wages, they also re- 
scinded the reduction of July 1, and restored to each 
man the pay he had received prior to that date. This 
very handsome action on the part of the road manage- 
ment undoubtedly had its effect upon Kansas City and 
Northern Railway employes. Late in the afternoon the 
same delegation of strikers that visited the Missouri 
Pacific yards, called at the Kansas City and Northern 
depots on Biddle street, and with about a similar result. 
It is believed that brakemen and firemen of the road did 
not participate in the strike, and only quit work because 
compelled to do so by superior numbers. There were 
only two days in which the road had any trouble in 
running freight trains. 

A strike among the coal haulers and pilers, at the St. 
Louis Gas-works, was inaugurated on Tuesday. There 
were about sixty-five men engaged in the movement. 
Their wages had been reduced from one dollar and 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 381 

seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents per day 
by the Receiver, Socrates Newman. The men demanded 
a return to the old standard of $1.75 per day, which 
demand was acceded to and the men resumed work. 
The pilers, who had never been paid more than $1.50, 
also demanded $1.75 per day. But the demand was 
refused, and they quit work. There was no strike at 
the water-works. 

The Coopers Union struck for higher wages on Tues- 
day, and marched through the streets. 

During the day a committee appointed by the Lucas 
Market meeting of Internationals, called at the City 
Hall to present their wishes to Mayor Overstolz. That 
functionary delivered a brief address, stating that he fully 
sympathized with the workingmen in the conditions 
which led them to the uprising, and that he would do all 
in his power to afford employment to all laboring men 
who might call at the City Hall and ask for it. He could 
not, however, in his official capacity, send such a message 
when he had no means of knowing what the result might 
be. As to the United States troops, he had ordered none 
here, and it was probable that, should any be sent, they 
would only be for the purpose of protecting Government 
property. The President would use his own discretion 
in determining whether or not to send troops for that 
purpose, and a message of the kind proposed would be 
of no effect. His honor, however, went on to say that 
if the petitioners desired, he would, as a private citizen, 
furnish them the necessaries for mailing the resolutions 
and request, but could not in his official capacity do any- 
thing in that direction. 

The committee, consisting of four white men and one 
colored man, went away apparently satisfied. 



382 THE GKEAT STRIKES. 

. At night, on the 24th, the Internationals again held a 
meeting-at Lucas Market, attended by perhaps eight or 
ten thousand persons. A procession moved through the 
streets, which numbered from fifteen hundred to two 
thousand men. It was headed by a fife and drum, and 
a single torch. The men who marched in the procession 
were moulders and mechanics. Some of the men carried 
laths or clubs on their shoulders, but no flag or banner 
was visible. As the single torch, with its fifteen grim hun- 
dred followers, came down street, it presented an awfully 
suggestive spectacle, the suggestiveness being occasion- 
ally strengthened by a tremendous yell, which began at 
the head, and gained volume as it rolled back to the rear 
of the line. 

The day closed without any startling incident. But 
preparations had been made for a grander display of the 
power of the proletariat the next day. 

Wednesday, July 25th, 1877, will forever be memora- 
ale in the annals of St. Louis, as a day of excitement 
and alarm only paralleled by those dreadful days ■ of 
April, 1861, when Camp Jackson was taken, and St. 
Louis saw her citizens shot down in the streets by the 
volunteer soldiers. It was a day of intense excitement. 
The condition of the public mind cannot be easily des- 
cribed. In the early morning, knots of strikers and 
crowds of the rabble began to collect at various points, 
and declared their purpose to go on a mission to close 
up all manufacturing business in the city. 

Early in the day the strikers from the various zine 
furnaces, and from the Vulcan Iron Works in Caronde- 
let, formed in column, and headed by a fife and drum 
started on a march to every manufacturing establish- 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. 383- 

ment in Carondelet, which was still in operation. This 
eompany was very boisterous on the march, and the peo- 
ple were in actual dread for their personal safety. But 
they marched on, with a firm determination to execute 
their purpose, and when they had completed their round 
there was not a single manufactory in operation, nor & 
single workingman pursuing his ordinary avocation in 
Carondelet. Beyond this no violence was committed. 
• In the city, bands of men, many of whom were not 
unfamiliar with the geological instruction imparted at 
the city- work- house, and not wholly unacquainted with 
the interior of the jails of the city, were early moving 
around visiting shops, factories and mills, and compel- 
ling the laborers employed in these places to quit work.. 
In nearly all instances the demand was complied with. 
A mob largely composed of negroes, marched through 
the central part of the city, and created no little alarm 
by the boisterous conduct in which its members in- 
dulged. One of the singular freaks of this unsavory- 
company was the fancy they took to close up bakeries. 
Accordingly a most unpromising crowd of tramps and 
hard-cases generally, visited an extensive bakery located 
on the corner of Sixth and Pine streets, forced open the 
doors, gave their orders to the proprietors, and being 
hungry proceeded to help themselves to pies and cakes. 
The leaders appeared ashamed of the conduct of their 
followers, and when the proprietors of the bakery asked 
permission te bake up the dough already kneaded, the 
request was granted without hesitation. This mob 
ought to have been promptly dispersed by the police 
authorities. There are those who believe, and will con- 
tinue to believe, that there was a superabundance of 



384: THE GREAT STRIKES. 

caution displayed on the part of the police authorities, 
in their dealings with such mobs as that which operated 
through the central part of the city Wednesday after- 
noon. 

At sundown, Wednesday evening, nearly all the 
manufacturing establishments in the city had been 
•closed, in many instances, at the request of a committee 
of the Internationalists — closed without protest or resist- 
ance. There seemed to be a wonderful want of nerve 
and determination among the people, and it will not be 
denied, that the municipal police authorities were evi- 
dently unduly impressed that the combinations against 
lawful authority were exceedingly powerful and danger- 
ous. 

The operations of the committees of the Internation- 
al, and the irresponsible mob of roughs who seem to 
have started out on their own account, and roamed at 
will, without the least interference, aroused the people 
to a sense of the situation of the city, and the danger 
that threatened it on account of the untrammelled 
action of the mob. Grown bold by indulgence, there 
was no telling what might not be undertaken by the 
roughs. 

These movements, therefore, served to quicken the 
energies, and inspire the courage of the friends of law 
and order. 

General A. J. Smith, whose military achievements 
during the War between the sections were highly honor- 
able to his reputation, and to the cause he served, offered 
his services to the Mayor, and at once took up his quar- 
ters in the Four Courts building. General John S. 
Marmaduke, a gallant and able commander on the 



DEMONSTRATIONS IN ST. LOUIS. . 3S5 

Confederate side, during the war, also tendered his 
services, and remained at the Four Courts, during the 
day, assisting in organizing the companies that had 
voluntered their services, to protect the city from the 
lawlessness of the irresponsible mob of roughs, who had 
shown their capacity for destructiveness in other cities. 

There was but one organized company of militia in the 
city, and that was a colored company. The officers of 
that company early offered the services of themselves and 
comrades to the city r.uthorities. 

In the evening, Mayor Overstolz issued a call upon 
merchants and business men to close temporarily, in order 
that their employes might have an opportunity to enroll, 
for the protection of the property of the city. 

The Board of Police Commissioners, now fully aroused, 
but still doubtful of their ability to arrest the progress of 
the rioters — although they had not ventured upon an 
-attempt — issued an order to Sheriff John Finn, com- 
manding him to " prepare to summon the posse comi- 
tatus to the number of five thousand men." In obedi- 
ance to this mandate Sheriff Finn issued a proclamation, 
in which he declared his sympathies with the working- 
men, and expressed his convictions that the incendiary 
deeds which had been committed in other cities, had 
been done by vagrants and tramps. ^Nevertheless he 
called upon them to rise in their honesty and integrity 
to put down lawlessness. 

The city authorities, and "ruling citizens" now 
thought it necessary to raise fifteen thousand armed men 
— to put down that terrible " Executive Committee " 
and its adherents ! All over the city were recruiting 
■stations, and men were hastening to enroll in the great 

25 



386 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

army of protection. The city was in aD uproar. Com- 
pany A National Guards, Captain Pearce in command, 
bad reorganized and were on duty in the city. Other 
companies had been organized, and before ten o'clock,, 
General A. J. Smith was in command of the nuclei of 
three or four regiments and battalions. True, they were 
not such soldiers as could endure a well sustained attack 
of regulars, but then they were able to assail the terrible 
armies of " The Executive Committe," with a reasonable 
prospect of success. Mayor Overstalz had established 
his headquarters in the Four Courts building, in order, 
it was said, to be in close communication with the 
Military Commanders. Governor Phelps had been ad- 
vised of the precarious condition of affairs, and was an- 
nounced as on the way from Jefferson City to St. Louis, 
to take personal supervision of movements. The Mayor 
and the United States officials in the city, had announced 
to President Hayes that the situation in St. Louis was 
critical, and General John Pope had sent General Jeff. 
C. Davis from Leavenworth, and that officer was eii-route 
with six companies of Regulars. 



CHAPTEK XXVIII. 



The Storming of Schuleb's Hall. 



To Arms!" — Down with Lawlessness — The Giant of Communism 
rather Ghostly — Governor Phelps — Mayor Overstolz —General A. 
J. Smith — The Mighty Executive Committee — More Phantom than 
Fact — An Important Undertaking — Seven Hundred Armed Men 
— They March to Storm the Hall of " The Workingmen's Party of 
the United States" — Schuler's Hall Captured — The Vanquished 
Commune — A Grand Parade — Prevention Better than Cure. 



The conduct of the riotous mobs, which had excited 
the citizens so greatly on Wednesday, and caused the 
active military preparations spoken of in a former 
chapter, was resumed again on the succeeding morning,. 
The condition of affairs at this time in St. Louis appears 
to have been about this : All the shops and manufactories 
in the city had been closed at the command of commit- 
tees sent out by " The Executive Committee," in some 
instances backed by a howling rabble of vicious idlers;, 
the whole industrial population of the city was idle ; the 
people were in a state] of constant dread of impending 
disaster ; capitalists naturally felt, since they were special 
objects of hatred, that a dreadful sword, such as tormented 
Damocles, was suspended above their heads ; the munici- 
pal authorities were endeavoring to strengthen their 
position ; General Smith, surrounded by a multitudinous 
staff of Colonels, was busy at the Four Courts organiz- 
ing the citizen soldiery. The Police Commissioners 
were at military headquarters, issuing their instructions 







1 



388 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

to the regular police force. Sheriff Finn had a small 
army of deputies, summoning citizens to serve as aposse 
comitatus ; General Jeff. C. Davis, of the United States 
Army, was en-route on a Pacific Railway train, with a 
body of regular troops, while his Excellency John S. 
Phelps, Governor of the State of Missouri, having or- 
dered the shipment of a large number of muskets and a 
quantity of ammunition, together with two pieces of artil- 
lery from the State Arsenal, was in person approaching 
the mob-disturbed metropolis of the State. 

On the other side, that formidable " Executive Com- 
mittee " had grown in boldness, and now even ventured 
to make demands of the Governor and the Mayor, in a 
tone that betokened their conviction that they were M men 
having authority." The street urchins, too, amid the 
tremendous events of the times, paraded the streets with 
a newspaper attached to a wand, on which was the terri- 
ble legend, " We don't want bread, we want cake and pie, 
or blood," thus swelling the tumult in this agitated city, 

Thursday, July 28th, dawned upon a city, not free, 
indeed, from " wars wild alarms," but there was a 
noticeable lull in the movements of the rioters. This 
fact was noted at the time, and caused no little specula- 
tion as to the cause. No very large or threatening 
demonstration of the strikers, or the rabble, took place. 
But there was an apparaition of darkness, which ap- 
peared to all the people. It was not exactly " Death on 
the Pale Horse," but it was a gigantic colored man, 
mounted on a yellow horse, who lead a mob, composed 
largely of negroes, toward the northern part of the 
-city, for the purpose of visiting and closing the shops, 
mills, and other manufacturing establishments, in that 



THE STORMING OF SCHULEr's HALL. 389 

section of the city. This mob was disposed to indulge 
in frequent " ugly yells," which was well calculated to 
strike terror into timid souls. The chief purpose of the 
Ethiopian on the yellow horse, was, apparently, the 
general enforcement of a holiday for all laborers, 
whether they desired it or not. In this mission he and 
his followers were eminently successful, meeting with 
no opposition from the laborers themselves, the police or 
the military. 

One of the mobs, which was headed by two sorry 
specimens of the Caucasian race, visited the various 
carriage shops on St. Charles street, and requested the 
workmen to quit. At an agricultural implement shop 
and warehouse, the proprietor declined to accede to the 
demand of the mob, and with a loaded revolver kept 
them back. They finally went away. Such were the 
character of the men who composed this terrible mob, 
that required the services of an army to crush. 

Meanwhile "The Executive Committee" were busy 
writing proclamations and diplomatic correspondence 
with Mayor Overstolz and Governor Phelps. One of 
the communications addressed to the Governor, is unex- 
ampled for pretension and cool impertinence. This 
mighty " Executive Committee " of " The Workingmen's 
Party of the United States," otherwise known as the 
"Internationalists," employes the following language in 
addressing the Governor : 

" We request your speedy co-operation in convening 
the legislature, and calling for the immediate passage of 
the eight-hour law, its stringent enforcement and 
penalty for all violations of same. 

" The non-employment of all children under fourteen 



390 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

years of age in factories, shops or other uses calculated to 
injure them. 

" Your attention is respectfully called to the fact that a 
prompt compliance with this, our reasonable demand, and 
living-wages be paid to the railroadmen, will at once 
bring peace and prosperity such as we have not seen for 
the last fifteen years. Nothing short of a compliance to 
the above just demand, made purely in the interest of 
our national welfare, will arrest this tidal wave of revolu- 
tion. Threats or organized armies will not turn the 
toilers of this nation from their earnest purpose, but 
rather serve to inflame the passions of the multitude, and 
tend to acts of vandalism." 

The same committee addressed a communication to 
Mayor Overstolz, in which they say: 

" We, the authorized representatives of the industrial 
population of St. Louis, have called upon you to request 
your co-operation in devising means to procure food for 
those actually in a destitute condition. 

" In order to save a useless waste of your time, it is 
necessary that we at once say, that all offers of work dur- 
ing this national strike cannot be considered by us as a 
remedy under the present circumstances, for we are fully 
determined to hold out until the principles we are con- 
tending for are carried. 

" It is the earnest desire of every honest toiler in St. 
Louis to accomplish their purpose in as orderly a way as 
this dire contingency will allow. 

" The contingency of food is already being felt — there- 
fore, to avoid plunder, arson, of violence by persons made 
desperate by destitution, we are ready to concur with 
your honor in taking timely measures to supply the im 



391 

mediate wants of the foodless, and respectfully offer the 
following suggestions, namely, if it is not in your power 
to relieve this distress, we request that a convention of 
the merchants be called by you, to meet and confer with 
us as to the best way to procure food to our distressed 
brothers and their families. 

" Each member of all labor organizations will hold 
themselves individual ly and collectively responsible to 
pay for all food procured by their order. 

" That we, the unfortunates, toiling citizens, desire to 
faithfully maintain the majesty of the law, whilst we 
are contending for our inalienable rights. 

" Therefore, we in good faith give you our earnest assur- 
ance to assist you in maintaining order and protecting 
property. Further, in order to avoid riot, we have de- 
termined to have no large processions until our organ- 
ization is so complete as to positively assure the citizens of 
«St, Louis of a perfect maintenance of order, and full 
protection to life and property." 

This is certainly unexampled frankness, so open, in- 
deed, as to have the appearance of a grim joke, which 
the Executive Committee was perpetrating at the ex- 
pense of the chief magistrates of the city of St. Louis, 
and the State of Missouri. It reminds one of the letter 
addressed by the Congress of the Internationals at Brus- 
sels, to the "League of Peace and Liberty," in session 
at Berne. " There is no longer a reason for the con- 
tinued existence of your body in the world. Therefore, 
we desire that you dissolve, and resolve yourselves into 
,a section of the International." So wrote the Congress 
of Brussels to another society of impracticables. 

To make it appear that the Workingmen's Fartj 



3C2 THE GEE AT STEIEES. 

meant serious business, this celebrated committee, or. 
the 25th of July, published a notice to the effect that,, 
" Physicians and Surgeons would be recognized during 
the strike by a white badge four inches wide encircling 
the left upper arm, bearing a red cross, the bars of which 
should be one inch wide, and three inches long." 

" The Executive Committee," having by its proclama- 
tions and diplomatic correspondence, secured a wide 
spread notoriety, at this time announced that the time 
for talking had passed, that the time for action had ar- 
rived, and that in order to be in complete readiness for 
any emergency, and to do which required the sort of 
vigilance which is the price of liberty, it was announced 
that the "Executive Committee" would remain in ses- 
sion all night at Schiller's Hall. In accordance with this 
announcement. Schiller's Hall presented a strange scene 
that night. Grim men, sun-browned and tawny, acted as 
sentinels. There was none of the tinsel — " the pomp and 
circumstances of glorious war," to inspire them. Inside 
the hall " The Executive Committee " held their con- 
clave. They too, w 7 ere a body of sinewy men, toil worn 
and grim, clad in the rough garments such as laborers 
are accustomed to wear. Notwithstanding the high 
sounding proclamations and loud declarations of hostile 
intentions, the truth is, that as late as Thursday night 
they had adopted no plan of action, had collected no- 
arms, had no military organization, and were perfectly 
incapable of offering resistance, even to a squad of 
police. Their whole clamor, as was made apparent, was 
a voice, and nothing more. 

But they must have found much quiet enjoyment over 
the furor which their pronunciamentos had created,,.. 



393 

For a time, at least, they must have felt their importance 
in the city — for a time, indeed, " The Executive Com- 
mittee," perhaps with less than a thousand really earnest 
yet wholly unorganized and unarmed adherents, were 
little less than a council of kings, who issued orders and 
they were obeyed, who commanded, and saw their com- 
mands executed ; this wonderful " Executive Committee,'* 
composed as it was of men who had hitherto been buried 
in the depths of obscurity, possessing neither social,, 
financial, or political importance in the community, sud- 
denly rose to the surface, and reigned as princes in St.. 
Louis. To their demands the richest yielded, at their 
request even proprietors of extensive manufactories 
closed their establishments, and the municipal authority 
of the city was paralyzed in their presence. It was a 
strange event in the history of the city, it was an incident in 
the development of social life, which is worthy of the most 
careful investigation from the students of social science- 
New men arise in revolutions whether of a social, com- 
mercial, or political character. Grant grew great as he 
was wafted on the billows of a terrible internecine strug- 
gle. Politicians and casuists can never be revolutionists- 
They belong to the established order of things — they 
bow only at the shrine of expediency, even though that 
involves a surrender of honesty. Lawyers are conserva- 
tives by force of education and habits of thought ; doctors 
are not in the line of social and political intrigue ; and 
priests and preachers dwell altogether, or, at least, are 
supposed to dwell in thought altogether in the shadowy 
realm beyond the tide of time. These cannot be revolu- 
tionists. Eoussel was out of place in the Commune of 
1871. That was a place only for such men af Raoul Ri- 



■394 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

gault, Eerre, Garreau, Fouet, and their kind. Koussel was 
a scholar, a gentleman, a genius, the others fit for such 
work as they performed, and such retribution as over- 
took them. Well known men never remain long at the 
head of affairs in times of great popular disturbances, 
because men who have already rendered themselves con- 
spicuous, are restrained by the fear of committing a 
blunder, and if not by that, then they are kept within a 
certain definable position by certain precedents and ex- 
periences, which wholly unfits them for the position of 
directors in events which have no precedents. So when 
the strikes created an uproar all over the land, new men 
eame to the surface, men before unknown. Men like 
Justus Schwab, and Conroy, and Winter, in New York, 
and Donahue, at Hornellsville, and Zepp, at Martinsburg, 
and Robert Ammon, at Pittsburgh, and Clynch, Yan 
Patten and Schilling, at Chicago, and Curtis, Lofgren, 
Cadell, and Allen, in St. Louis, and Easton and Benton, 
in East St. Louis, all of whom were unknown to the 
general public until their ~names became familiar as 
household words during the reign of the strikes. 
Uochefort, the best known, appears not to have been a 
leader of the Commune. So in New York, Swinton, 
the cultivated journalist, and intellectually the ablest 
man among the Internationalists, does not appear to have 
been so much of a leader as Conroy or Justus Schwab. 

But to return to the narrative of events in St. Louis. 
The operation of the mob on Thursday consisted in 
marching about in small bodies, from mill to mill, from 
one factory, foundry, or shop, to the next in their way, 
and issuing orders, or presenting requests to the pro- 
prietors to close up their business places. By Thursday 



395 

night, from Bissell's Point to the River des Peres, 
from Wharf to Chettinham, there was not a single 
manufacturing establisment, of any importance, that 
had not been closed. 

Meanwhile, Governor John S. Phelps, accompanied 
by his private secretary, had arrived from Jefferson 
City, and proposed as Commander-in-Chief of the army 
of the State, consisting at that time of some two 
thousand men, hastily recruited from among the citizens 
of St. Louis, to take general command over the move- 
ments of the forces. The Governor, in order to strike 
terror into the souls of the rioters, proceeded to issue a 
proclamation, couched in such terms, as in the mind of 
his excellency, appeared best calculated to impress the 
disorderly elements with the firmness of his purpose 
and the solemnity of his resolution, to overcome their 
unlawful combination. 

In that proclamation, his Excellency proceeded to 
enumerate the evil results accomplished by the rioters, 
among which were these : They had unlawfully and 
riotously assembled in the city of St. Louis ; they had 
unlawfully compelled other men to quit and abandon 
the pursuits by which they supported themselves and 
families ; worse than all else, they had impeded the 
prosecution of the internal commerce of the country by 
assembling in force, thereby preventing the transpor- 
tation of the products of the country, which had a bad 
effect, inasmuch as it enhanced the cost of support fo 
all persons in a time of financial distress. Further, his 
Excellency declared that other disturbances and disorders 
were threatened in St. Louis, and elsewhere in the State. 
Wherefore he, the Governor of the State, required the 



396 THE GREAT STRIKES. . 

aforesaid bands of men, unlawfully assembled, to dis- 
band and return to their usual pursuits and avocations. 
By way of parenthesis, it may not be inappropriate to 
remark just here, that perhaps his Excellency was not 
aware of the fact that some, at least, of the bands un- 
lawfully assembled, were composed largely of men whose 
" usual pursuits and avocations " were sneak-thieving. 
It is not to be presumed that the Governor understood 
this fact. But the Governor of the State of Missouri 
went further, he required that they should not further 
molest the good citizens of the State. And he earnestly 
assured the people of Missouri, and especially of St- 
Louis, that he was in that city for the purpose of seeing 
that the laws were faithfully executed and enforced, and 
that the rights of all should be respected ; that order 
should be maintained ; that all assemblages of evil men 
should be dispersed, and that quiet and tranquility in 
future should be preserved, and with the aid of the 
good people of the State, he solemnly declared these 
pledges should be redeemed so far as in his power as 
their chief executive, not only for the peace and wel- 
fare of the city, but for every part of the common- 
wealth. 

Having accomplished this important work, his Excel- 
lency rested from his labors, and awaited the ripening of 
the harvest of his sowing. It was a brilliant assem- 
blage of notables at the Four Courts that evening. 

Mayor Overstolz, on the same day, issued a proc- 
lamation couched in reasonable terms, and concillia- 
tory language, requesting a resumption of business, and 
desiring all laboring men, and all others to abstain, as 
much as possible, from congregating on the streets. 



397 

He prohibited any interference by intimidation or other- 
wise with the employes or employers of any mill, factory, 
business, or other establisment. He asserted the right of 
labor to quit their employment if dissatisfied. He de- 
clared that the responsibilty for collisions would rest with 
those who persisently violated the law. 

At the Four Courts all was bustle and hurry. 
•General A. J. Smith, with his numerous staff of Colonels, 
were all kept busy. It was astonishing how much had 
been accomplished. Order had been brought out of 
•chaos. The recruits had been drilled and disciplined, 
the veterans had resumed the war- like habit, and were 
■" fighting their battles o'er again." Guards slowly 
paced to and fro before the stately building. That 
vicinity, at least, wore the aspect of " grim-visaged war." 
The veterans who had " dared death in the deadly 
breach," and met the leaden storm on a hundred battle- 
fields, had forgotten their ancient proficiency, and had 
fallen, in knowledge of tactics and skill as warriors, far 
below the intellectual knights who had rushed to the 
front to meet the terrible soldiers of 4 ' The Executive 
Oommitee " whoever and whatever they might be, only 
a day before. 

Friday, July 27th, 1877, dawned much like other days. 
There were some clouds, and some indication that a 
summer shower might fall almost any hour. The 
weather was hot and murky. The streets were com- 
paratively quiet. There was no such crowds as were 
visible on the preceding Wednesday. Indeed, the city 
was unusually free from tumult and noises. It seemed 
as if a sort of Sabbath spirit hovered over the place. 
Mayor Overstolz had declared that no more public meet- 



398 THE GEEAT 6TEIKES. 

ings should be held, the Governor had proclaimed his- 
purpose to compel men to return to " their pursuits and 
avocations," and " The Executive Committee " was meet- 
ing at Schiller's Hall. General Smith and his staff were 
at the Four Courts in readiness to meet any emergency 
with the forces at his command. His Excellency, Gov- 
ernor John S. Phelps, had supplied arms and ammuni- 
tion, and St. Louis had contributed the men and the 
military genius to create an army. The authorities 
now felt strong, more especially since it was evident that 
the followers of "The Executive Committee" were 
growing fewer in numbers. There was a lull on Thurs- 
day, and on Friday morning it was apparent that the 
rioters were still less boisterous. But St. Louis had been 
shaken by a mighty wind, " created by a disturbance of 
the electrical equilibrium in consequence of the develop- 
ment of the gaseous body" known as The Executive 
Committee, and the ponderous men who decide all im- 
portant matters in St. Louis, had not recovered from the 
trepidation endured when the storm was at its height. 
For these and sundry other reasons, the minds of the 
numerous Pillycamps of which St. Louis can boast, were 
not easy. Th*,t dreadful Executive Committee was still 
in existence, and in session at Schuler'sHall, surrounded 
by they knew not how great an army, supplied with they 
knew not what terrible implements of war. such as mitrail- 
leuses, Gatling guns, Columbiads, torpedoes, Greek fire, 
shells, and what else they could not form the least concep- 
tion, but something dreadful they shrewdly suspected it 
must be. 

It was Friday morning when the Board of Police 
Commissioners, headed by the Vice-President, Colonel 



39tf 

David H. Armstrong, concluded that the police author- 
ities had waited full long to undertake to maintain good 
order in the streets. There had been meetings appoint- 
ed by the " Executive Committee " at Carondelet avenue 
and Barton street, Hyde Park, and at Lucas Market. At 
Hyde Park, a company gathered, numbering perhaps 
three hundred or four hundred persons. To this meet- 
ing, Captain Burgess, of the Police, was ordered to ac- 
cept an invitation. Leaving his squad of officers out of 
sight, the Captain went alone into the meeting, and told 
them that they could not hold a meeting, and that he 
had a sufficient force at hand to compel obedience. The 
crowd thereupon stood not upon the order of their going, 
but went at once. At Barton street, no collection of 
the people could be found. At Lucas Market a few 
people, looking way-worn and wearied, presented them- 
selves, but Sergeant Daly with a small squad of police 
officers went and dispersed them. 

The Committee of Safety determined to attack Schu- 
ler's Hall. Generals Smith and Marmaduke protested 
against such an enterprise. General Marmaduke was 
very positive in his opposition to the movement. 

The result of the conference was a determination to 
attack. The command of the expeditionary forces was 
entrusted to General John D. Stevenson, the friend of 
Mayor Overstolz. As to the forces necessary to accom- 
plish the undertaking, there was some diversity of opin- 
ion, but finally it was concluded that the police officers, 
who were to lead the attack, should be supported by an 
infantry and cavalry force of about six hundred men, 
with two pieces of artillery. 

The command of the police batallion, by a special 



400 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

order of Chief McDonough, was conferred on Captain 
William Lee. The capture of " the violators of law " at 
Schiller's Hall, was mentioned as a particular service, 
the battalion under command of Captain Lee was ex- 
pected to perform. If they encountered any resistance 
in effecting the arrest of the Schuller's Hall meeting the 
police were commanded to open fire on the people. 
The soldiers were there, it appears, to assist in marshal- 
ing the prisoners and escorting them to the Four Courts. 

Schuler's Hall, the scene of the most important mili- 
tary achievement of the combined forces of the citizen- 
soldiery and police, is a dingy structure, situated at the 
intersection of Fifth and Biddle streets, and extending 
from Fifth street to Broadway, it being near the junc- 
tion of these two thoroughfares. It is a small hall, and 
has been frequently used as a meeting place for political 
clubs of the old tenth ward, now the fourth. 

During the forenoon of that eventful day, " The Exec- 
utive Committee" were in session, what they were 
doing, what plans they were concocting, has not as yet 
been revealed. A crowd, not very demonstrative, 
composed largely of employes of neighboring manufac- 
tories which had been closed in consequence of the 
strikers, lounged about the street corners, and on the 
door steps in the vicinity. These people seemed to be 
in total ignorance of the aims and purposes of " The 
Executive Committee." In the hall, there were not 
more than a hundred and fifty or two hundred persons 
at one time during the day, and these seemed to be little 
better informed in regard to what was being developed, 
in the room occcupied by the Executive Committee, 
than the crowd which loitered on the outside. They all 



401 

-appeared to be workingmen, and did not appear very 
war-like. They had no arms, and " The Executive Com- 
mittee " was provokingly slow in furnishing them with 
death dealing instruments. 

Meanwhile, all was in commotion at the Four Courts. 
The notes of busy preparation plainly heard. There 
was hurry, bustle and buzzing, such as might be ex- 
pected from a gallant army setting forth on a perilous 
expedition, with thoughts only of victory to animate 
them to the perform ince of heroic deeds. The com- 
jpanies were marshaled, the officers were at their respec- 
tive posts ; the ar tilery was hauled out, the police bat- 
talion was mustered; General John D. Stevenson 
mounted his war-steed, Miyor O/erstolz, Colonel Arm- 
strong, and Chief of Police McDonough, assumed their 
appropriate places, and on the afternoon of Friday, July 
27th, 1877, the combined forces of the police and 
citizens, soldiery, marched out from the Four Courts 
to storm and capture the headquarters of " The Execu- 
tive Committee," a mile away, at Fifth and Biddle 
streets. The combined forces numbered about seven 
hundred men of all arms. A little before three o'clock 
the head of the column marched up Fifth street to 
the vicinity of Schiller's Hall 

How the attack was made, we shall proceed to relate. 
The scene presented at this time, was a striking and a 
novel one. About Wash street, two blocks below the 
hall, the police cavalry, led by Captain Fox and Sergeant 
Floreich, came northward at a moderate gait, occupying 
nearly the full width of the street. Just behind them 
the two files of foot police, led by Captain Lee, mounted, 
.and by Captain Huebler and Sergeants Boyd and Pow- 



4:02 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

ell, afoot, occupied the middle of the street, moving- 
with quick step, their bayoneted muskets at a " carry 
arms." The cannon showed grimly near the middle of 
the force. The rear of this company was brought up 
by Mayor Overstolz and three citizens, who marched 
well, regardless of mud. 

A half block behind these, the soldiery, with their 
forest of bayonets, advanced with regular, measured 
tread, presenting a very pretty column. 

The formidable procession was flanked on either side- 
by an immense crowd of citizens, who overflowed the 
sidewalks, and pushed and jostled in most tumultuous- 
fashion in their eagerness to get forward and witness 
the trouble which they thought was about to occur. 

In front of the building was a small crowd, but a little- 
to the north, occupying Biddle street, and well up along 
the market-house on Fifth street an awe-struck multi- 
tude stood gazing southward. It was composed largely 
of the lower classes, but there were also many Broadway 
and Fifth street merchants in it. The crowd was won- 
derfully still, evidently expecting that some terrible 
event was about to happen. 

The troops marched with little noise, and there was 
in fact, nothing to indicate to the people on the third 
floor that anything was about to happen. 

When within about fifty yards of the hall, the cavalry- 
men put spuiVto' their horses and moved forward at a 
brisk trot, charging directly for the crowd which block- 
ed the street. They did not stop at the hall, but the 
crowd opened and retreated before them, and they kept 
on their course till they passed the north line of Biddle 
street, when they stopped. They were cheered by some,. 



40& 

and cursed and mocked by others, but paid no attention 
to it. Presently the crowd began to show an unruly 
spirit, and to press forward beyond the limits. Then 
the cavalry made things lively beyond description. 
They dashed hither and thither regardless of sidewalks 
and gutters, and drove the crowd before them without 
distinction. 

Every charge occasioned a loud yell, and a collision 
sometimes seemed imminent. This sudden uproar, after 
such a remarkable quiet, carried consternation to those 
who remained on the upper floors in fancied security, 
and there was a panic which words cannot picture. 
Some jumped from the third-story porch on the south 
side of the building upon the roof of the adjoining 
building, and running over a couple of roofs, made a 
descent. Many shinned down the pillars of the porches. 
A score of others got upon the second floor balcony at 
the east side of the building, and letting themselves 
down their full length, dropped upon the sidewalk, all 
in a heap. Several of these jumpers suffered serious 
sprains. A numbers of others, afraid to drop or jump, 
stood trembling on the balcony until the cavalry charg- 
ed around on that side to corral the building. The 
officers pointed their revolvers at those who stood up 
there, and called on them to surrender and come down* 
which they did, amid the wildest confusion. 

The main part of the work of arrest devolved upon 
the police who were afoot. When they reached the 
entrance to the hall stairway, Captain Lee, in a low tone, 
ordered a halt, and, leaping from his horse, he drew his 
sword and led the way up stairs. Crptain Huebler and 
a number of men took possession of the second floor, 



401 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

and Captain Lee and Detective Hugh O'Neil, who was 
rigged out as one of the workingmen, went on up stairs 
and did the work in the main hall without other assist- 
ance. 

It was an easily accomplished task. Captain Lee, 
sword in hand, burst into the room and roared out, " Let 
every man in this room consider himself my prisoner." 
There were a few groans, and some appeals for leniency, 
as the wretches whose escape had been cut off, heard this 
order and hauled in their heads. 

The Captain looked savage, and the reporter fell right 
into line at the head of the crowd, not knowing but 
what he, too, would get a blistering slap with the 
steel, or worse. In a moment, the crowd numbering 
between twenty and thirty, formed as orderly a double 
tile as any body could desire, and the next moment came 
the order, " forward, march." 

Hughey O'Neil and Sargeant Fox marshaled the 
miserable crew, and they marched down stairs as though 
going down to death. 

The exploit was accomplished, the headquarters of 
" The Executive Committee" had been invaded — cap- 
tured, without the loss of a single man. The forces of 
the Communists were placed inline as prisoners, together 
with a number of unfortunate idlers, who had been cap- 
tured on the streets in the neighborhood. It was not a 
large force. Seventy-three prisoners in all. Marshal- 
ing their prisoners, the seven hundred armed men who 
had marched up Fifth street to Schuler's Hall, marched 
up to Eleventh street, then South to the Four Courts 
again. Twenty-four of the seventy-three prisoners were 
found to be employes of various manufacturing estab- 



THE STORMING OF SCHTTLER's HALL. 405 

lishments in the neighborhood, which were temporarily 
closed — men who had not struck, and who had taken no 
part in the proceedings of the Internationalists. These 
were released. There were forty-nine left, but it was 
soon discovered that a number of these were mechanics 
and artisans, who were at the hall to gratify their curi- 
osity, and these were in no long time released. In fact, 
it soon became a painfully apparent fact that the fruits of 
victory were no better than apples of Sodom in the 
grasp of the victors. 

This was the last formidable appearance of that re- 
markable " Executive Committee " which had kept St. 
Louis in a fever of excitement for several days. 

The next day was quiet, the citizen-soldierly were still 
on duty, but there were no foes to face. The great 
strike drew to a close. The page of history was made 
up. The merchants brigade, General John B. Gray's 
command, the citizens forces, General Smith and his 
staff of Colonels having well performed, their part, were 
about to lay aside the implements of war. The streets 
were quiet. The war had closed. Monday the long lines 
of volunteers presented themselves as the defenders of 
the city, received the applause of fair women and brave 
men — then all was over. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Minor Incidents of the Strikes in Missouri. 



Interest in the Strikes — Kansas City — The Sedalia Trainmen — The 
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway — Hannibal and St. Joe — 
" Strike Smashers " — The General Tumult — Growing Quiet — The 
Decline — The End — Peace. 



Within the limits of the great State of Missouri 
there are more than three thousand miles of railways. 
The companies operating these lines employ in the 
aggregate, more than fifteen thousand men. It was 
scarcely to be expected that all these would remain quiet 
while the whole country suffered from the throes of a 
social disturbance, unparalleled in the annals of our 
country's history. But there were conditions which did 
exist elsewhere, which had no small influence in deter- 
mining the position which the railroadmen, as well as 
other workingmen in the State. The companies operat- 
ing the Missouri, Pacific, St. Louis, Kansas City and 
Northern, the St. Louis and San Francisco, and the St. 
Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern lines, representing 
together more than two thousand miles of railway 
lines, by a consummately wise policy, very effectually 
cured the " striking disease " in its incipient stages. 

In St. Louis, Mayor Overstolz was pursuing a con- 
ciliatory course with the workingmen, and evinced no 
disposition to precipitate a collision. There were not 
wanting anions: his advisers, men who were thirsting for 



MINOR INCIDENTS OF THE STRIKES IN MISSOURI. 4:07 

a cheap notoriety, as heroes in a conflict, between the 
workingmen and the representatives of the constituted 
-authorities. Happily for the city and for the State, 
the Mayor thought differently, and acted in a manner 
calculated to save the lives and protect the property of 
all classes. It must be stated, however, that the Mayor 
was not certain that he possessed the requisite force to 
suppress disorders, in case even a slight collision should 
take place in St. Louis, hence, it was that he actually 
sought the aid of the regular forces of the United States, 
not to suppress, but to prevent outbreaks. He believed 
that a stroug force present in the city would prevent the 
necessity for an exercise of its repressive power. 

In many places in the State, the authorities feared 

• outbreaks. This was particularly true of the municipal 

• officers of cities like Kansas City, Sedalia, Moberly, 
Hannibal, and St. Joseph. The Governor of Missouri 
was peculiarly devoted to precautionary measures, The 
Slate capital, Jefferson City, is a small place, unimport- 
. ant as a railway center, and inhabited by comparatively 
few persons who depend upon employment on railways 
for a livelihood. Nevertheless, his Excellency, John S. 
Phelps, as early as Monday the 23d of July, directed 
Assistant-General E. Y. Mitchell to provide a guard for 
the State Armory. The purpose was to protect State 
arms in case the few railroads in that place, or the 
Labor Union, or any other persons should engage in a 
riot, and endeavor to seize them. But the small popula- 
tion of Jefferson City did not afford a sufficient number 
of such evil-minded persons to organize a disturbance, 
^nd the Governor had the satisfaction of knowing that 
lie had, at any rate, provided for an emergency that 



408 THE GEEAT STEIEES. 

might have arisen, provided there had been any one dis- 
posed to engage in precipitating a collision. However,. 
there were no such persons there, at least none wh cl- 
eared to let their views he known. The Governor- 
rested in peace. The Penitentiary guards received in- 
structions to he on the alert, and prepared to receive the 
rioters, should they appear. There had been no evidence 
of any disposition to engage in strikes, or otherwise dis- 
turb the social order of the city, and during the con- 
tinuance of the troubles in other sections of the country,, 
Jefferson City remained perfectly quiet. 

The workingmen of Springfield, Missouri, a city in 
which extensive shops of the St. Louis and San Francisco- 
Railway are located, called a meeting on the evening of 
July 23d, at North Springfield. The call created no 
little apprehension among the gocd people of the city. 
But the meeting was held, a number of speeches were 
made, all couched in language at once admonitory and 
pacific. No harm came of it, and the class of alarmists 
and simpletons who showed their fears, felt heartily 
ashamed of their folly. 

At St. Joseph, a terminal point for several lines of 
railway, there were a few days of great uneasiness among 
the people on account of the strikes engaged in by the em- 
ployes of some of the railroads. The employes of the 
Hannibal and St. Joseph, the Kansas City, St. Joseph 
and Council Bluffs, and the Missouri Valley Railroads,, 
were on a strike. There was a freight blockade, and even 
passenger trains were detained on some of the lines. 
The strikes began on the 24th, and continued until the 
30th of July, when freight trains were moved as usual y , 
During its continuance there were times of no little ex- 



MINOR INCIDENTS OF THE STRIKES IN MISSOURI. 409' 

citement, but it is but just to say, that there was not a. 
single act of violence committed by the strikers while 
railway business was suspended. 

At Kansas City, meetings of the employes of various, 
lines of railways having their terminus at that city, were 
held on the 24th, and at noon all ceased to work. A 
crowd of some three hundred strikers took possession of 
the Union Depot, and held it. JSTo freight trains were 
allowed to depart. During the afternoon of the same 
day, a band of some two hundred and fifty men were 
organized, and proceeded to go in procession "to all the 
railroad shops, packing houses, founderies, elevators, and 
other places where large numbers of men were employed,, 
and invited them to quit work and join in the general 
strike. In nearly every instance their invitation waff 
accepted, and labor was generally discontinued in Kansas 
City. 

Meantime the excitement in the city had become very 
great. A call was issued for the assembling of a mass 
meeting of citizens to take action concerning the threat- 
ened disturbances. At that meeting a Committee of 
Safety was appointed, and other measures looking to the 
preservation of the public peace and the protection of 
property. On the same evening the strikers met in 
■council, and resolved that no more freight trains should 
be moved — at least for the time being. 

The City Council met in secret session and passed a 
resolution providing for the appointment of a large num* 
ber of special policemen, to preserve the peace and 
protect property. The next morning July 25th, the 
special force was assigned to duty. 

All freight trains on all roads were stopped on the 



410 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

25th. The strikers made their headquarters at the Union 
Depot. During four days the strikers held undisputed 
sway, and would not permit the movement of freight. 
On the 29th of July a consultation was held between the 
Executive Committee of the strikers, and an Arbitration 
Committee under the sanction of the railroad corpora- 
tions, which resulted in the satisfactory adjustment of 
the pending disagreement between the railroad compan- 
ies and their employes. During the afternoon of the 
same day the strikers held a mass-meeting, before which 
the members of the Executive Committee laid a report 
of the action they had taken looking toward a compro- 
mise. The result was the passage of concilliatory reso- 
lutions declaring the desire of the strikers to see business 
resumed on all the railroads throughout the land, expres- 
sing confidence in the justice and fair mindedness of the 
railroad managers of that section, and appointing a 
committee to notify the Superintendents of all the 
railroad lines that they were ready to resume work the 
next day. Thus the strike closed at Kansas City. 
During those four days there were some exciting scenes, 
but not a single act of violence was committed, neither 
was the public peace disturbed, nor the rights of property 
invaded. 

At Hannibal, the point where the Hannibal and St- 
• Joseph railway terminates on the western bank of the 
Mississippi, as well as the northern terminus of the Mis- 
souri, Kansas and Texas Railway, and other lines, much 
apprehension existed among the people generally. There 
were a large number of railroad employes in the city, 
and several extensive manufacturing establishments, 
particularly founderies and car shops, served to awaken 



MINOR INCIDENTS OF THE STRIKES IN MISSOURI. 411 

uneasy feelings among all classes of citizens. The em- 
ployes of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway struck 
on the 24th, and all business was suspended in the trans- 
portation of freight over that road until the 29th. The 
-employes of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway had 
joined in the strike as early as the 23rd, and the em- 
ployes of the car shops were also among the strikers. 
On the 25th the strikers required employes in large 
-establishments who had not struck, to join- them. All 
the large shops, founderies, mills and other manufacto- 
ries of Hannibal were closed on the 25th, and the 
business of the city was completely embargoed. On the 
29th most of the railway employes who had been en- 
gaged in the strike resumed their places, the trains were 
moving as usual, the shops had reopened, the mills were 
at work, the founderies were in full blast, and what at 
one time threatened a dangerous disturbance of the social 
order, had passed without a single act of violence. It is 
true that at times there were exciting scenes, and timid 
persons may have been alarmed, but there was little 
cause for it. Hannibal had become quiet on the 30th. 

At Moberly there was little trouble during the contin- 
uance. The wise policy adopted by the managers of the 
St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway prevented 
any strike at that time, and the employes of the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas road were not numerous enough to 
create a great deal of trouble. The people were com- 
pelled to pass several anxious days, but their fears, hap- 
pily, were never realized. 

Sedalia, a city of some ten thousand inhabitants, is 
located at the junction of the Missouri Pacific and Lex- 
ington branch, and these roads are here intersected by 



412 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway. It is a " rail- 
road town," the population being largely composed of 
employes of the various divisions of roads which have 
headquarters at this place. No doubt the sympathies of 
the people were with the strikers. It was apprehended 
that Sedalia would become the Hornellsville of Missouri. 
But the railroadmen of Sedalia behaved admirably. 
Those on a strike were not ruffians, and aside from caus- 
ing some days of anxiety to timid people, Sedalia escaped 
from any serious consequences on account of the strikes. 
Not an act of violence was committed. There was no 
trouble at Booneville. So ended the strike in Missouri. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



San Francisco' s Problem. 



The Workingmen's Sympathies for Strikers — A Mass Meeting — The 
Hoodlums on the Alert — Concocting Mischief — Race Riots — Incen- 
diarism — Chinese Wash Houses — The Hoodlum's Aversion — De- 
structive Conflagrations — A Vigilance Committee — Chasing the 
Roughs — A Bloody Scene — The Aroused Citizens Crush the Mob 
Spirit — Peace Restored. 



The wave of unrest that had its origin in the eastern 
States swept westward, involving two third of the great 
cities and large towns in its disastrous course, and 
finally reacheing the Pacific shore, manifested itself 
with terrible effect in the metropolis of California. 
Properly speaking, the difficulty in San Francisco was 
not a strike. But the uprising among the workingmen 
was made an occasion by the roughs, the hoodluni ele- 
ment in San Francisco, to vent their hatred, and indulge 
in violent attacks on the Mongolian residents of the 
Pacific states. It was but natural that the workingmen 
of the Far West, advised as they were, of the events 
occuring in the East, should entertain a profound 
sympathy for their eastern brethren on a strike against 
low wages ; it was but reasonable that they should come 
together to give expression to that sentiment, and they 
did come together. Better perhaps, that they had not 
done so, but the errors of the past are irrevocable. 
Taking advantage of the somewhat perturbed condition 



414 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

of the society, on account of the exciting news from the 
East, the hoodlums of San Francisco, inaugurated a. 
series of outrages for which the workingmen were in no 
way responsible. 

During the afternoon of July 24th, 1877, hand-bills 
were industriously circulated throughout San Francisco, 
setting forth that the workingmen and women of 
the city would meet in mass-meeting at half past se ^en- 
o'clock, near the new City Hall, to take action in relation 
to the strikes in the east. 

On account of the excitement which had been occa- 
sioned by the news from Pittsburgh, an immense crowd 
was attracted to the spot., a majority of whom were 
actuated by mere curiosity, while the hoodlum element 
went there for what might turn up. By seven o'clock 
Market street was alive with men going west, and half 
an hour later both sides of the thoroughfare were black 
with people. The large, irregular- shaped lot in front of 
the new City Hall was the place chosen for the meet- 
ing, and at eight o'clock it was almost impossible to find 
a spare foot of ground. A platform had been erected in 
the center of the lot, and a brass band attempted to 
play " The Star Spangled Banner " as an overture to the 
commencement of the meeting. 

A gasoline lamp, such as are used by street corner 
vendors of corn plaster, and superior blacking, was lit 
by a tall man with a prominent nose, who afterwards 
called the meeting to order, and nominated James F. 
D'Arcy for chairman of the meeting. Mr. D'Arcy 
threw a damper on the meeting by stating that it was 
no auti- Coolie meeting, and that they were not there 
for the purpose of discussing the Chinese question. 



415 

He said that they had met not for the purpose of en- 
couraging riot and incendiarism, but to give their 
brother workmen in the East their moral support. He 
then took up the eight-hour question, but did not speak 
long, as the crowd were impatient for novelty, and had 
enough of eight-hour oratory. 

" Talk about the Chinamen ; " " Give us the Coolie 
business," and other shouts from all over the ground 
put an end to his discourse. The crowd was a good- 
natured one, but its component parts wanted fun, and 
so another meeting was organized on the eastern por- 
tion of the lot, and the crowd which seceded from the 
original meeting, amused themselves by extinguishing 
the speakers whenever they attempted anything ap- 
proaching spread-eagle oratory. 

Dr. Swain was introduced amidst a constant fire of 
small talk from the gamins. He quoted from the ancient 
Greek, spouted phrases from Cicero and Horace, and at- 
tacked the Federal Government for not providing for an 
army of three millions of unemployed workingmem 
The crowd could not stand him very long, and he gave 
way. 

A lady was introduced as Mrs. Kendrick. Mrs. Ken- 
drick said that if the workingmen had their wages re- 
duced, the hardships fell on their wives and children as 
much as on themselves, and they should not, therefore,, 
be selfish in their indignation, but divide a little of it 
with the women. Her auditors listened good naturedly 
for fifteen minutes, but as there appeared to be no chance 
for recess, she was advised to " hire a hall," and the 
chairman was asked to " fire her out." 

Hon. John Days, from Nevada, was introduced as 



416 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

an " ex-organizer of ' The "Workingmen's League.' " Mr. 
Days alluded briefly to the soulless corporations, the fat 
and bloated railroad magnates, aud the necessity for 
ehecking their rapacity. 

A gang of some two hundred young hoodlums, who 
had been collecting on the McAlister side of the lot, at 
this juncture rushed pell-mell up Leavenworth street, 
hooting and yelling in a fearful manner. At least eight 
thousand people were present at the meeting, and it was 
an orderly one for so large a crowd. 

About eleven o'clock in the evening a fire broke out 
at the Pacific Mail Dock, San Francisco, and raged furi- 
ously until after midnight, burning immense quantities 
of lumber, and a great deal of similar property, owned 
by various parties. The fire was of incendiary origin, 
the evident intention being to involve the Company's 
property in its spread. The citizen vigilantes marched 
to the scene of the conflagration, and closed all the streets 
commanding the approaches. 

On the arrival of the first detachment of citizens, a 
crowd numbering about ten thousand gathered. The 
various lumber and coal -yards in which the fire was 
raging, were surrounded on the land side by a fence run- 
ning near the bottom of a steep hill, leading up to St. 
Mary's hospital. On the top of this hill a crowd had 
assembled. While a portion of them attempted to set 
fire to the fence, the police and citizens attempted to 
drive them off, and were met by a shower of stones from 
the hill. The hill was then stormed in the face of a hot 
fusilade of stones, and the mob began firing pistols. 
The force answered with a volley, and getting to close 
quarters, used their clubs with telling effect. In the 



417 

•charge a young man, the note teller in the London and 
San Francisco bank, fell, fatally wounded. Another cit- 
izen was shot dead, and a great many were wounded 
more or less seriously, by stones and pistol-shots. It was 
impossible to ascertain the loss of the rioters. Several 
were reported killed and wounded, but nothing could be 
definitely known. At least one hundred shots were fired 
into the mob. About a dozen were found lying in the 
drug stores near the scene of action, more or less seriously 
injured. This charge broke the courage of the mob, 
many of whom were captured, and a long chain being 
stretched across the front of the mail dock, they were 
marched to it for safe keeping. The mob at no time ob- 
tained access to the mail dock, which was closed, strongly 
guarded, and several cannon planted, commanding the 
entrance. The ships at the wharves were hurriedly 
towed to places of safety. The firemen, after the first 
outbreak, were well protected, and worked with but 
slight hinderance. The driver of hose cart No. 1 was 
shot dead by the mob, but there were no other casualties 
among the members of the force. 

The anti-Coolie meeting, which had been called, met 
early in the evening, near Corry Hill. Threats were 
openly made to clean out Chinatown, and attack the res- 
idents and railroad authorities, and from what could be 
learned, it would appear that Friday night had been fixed 
upon for the demonstration in that direction. During 
the evening the following slips, marked " Warning," 
were distributed : 

" PRO BONO PUBLICO." 

The attention of the " Thousand and One " will be 
drawn to any and all premises where Chinese are em- 

27 



4:18 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

ployed or allowed. Property owners, insurance com- 
panies and employers, make a note of this while there is- 
time, and before the avengers and oppressed laborer 
thunder at your doors. 

(Signed) " Thousand and One." 

Quiet was restored in the city shortly after mid-night. 
Four hundred stand of arms and six thousand revolvers- 
were received from the United States Arsenal. 

According to the announcements previously made, the 
city was treated to a display of lawlessness and hood- 
lumism such as had never before been witnessed. A 
band of two or three hundred young men, crazed with 
excitement and liquor, ruled that portion of the city in 
which they paraded, for three hours, and it was not until 
the entire force of regular and special police and a hun- 
dred citizens sworn as officers, together with the Sheriff 
and his Deputies were called upon, that the crowd was 
broken and the riot stopped. The hoodlum element, it 
has been claimed, was drawn together by the working- 
men's mass-meeting, and it w T as at the new City Hall 
where the leaders got their followers together, and laid 
their plans for the criminal acts which were committed 
by them sometime later. 

On the south-west corner of Leavenworth and Geary 
streets, was a two-stor} 7 frame building with a basement. 
The basement was occupied as a Chinese wash-house, and 
the upper part as a fruit store and dwelling. The vicious 
gang rushed into the wash-house, beat the Chinese in- 
mates who had not effected a retreat, scattered the clothing 
upon the floor, smashed the windows, battered down the 
doors, and broke the oil lamps against the walls. A portion 



419 

of the crowd made a raid on the fruit stand, and threw the 
contents into the street. The burning oil set the build- 
ing on fire, and in a few minutes the house was in a blaze. 
An alarm of fire was turned on, and the Department 
came speedily upon the ground. The inmates of the 
upper part of the building were rescued with great trouble, 
and it was only by the greatest exertions that a lady who 
had retired for the night, was saved from becoming a victim 
to the flames. Another piece of deviltry practiced, was in 
cutting the hose leading from the engines. This was 
done in several places, scarcely one half of the water, in 
some instances passing through the severed hose. 

"While the firemen were exerting themselves to subdue 
the flames, the gang started down Geary street, frighten- 
ing women and children with their wild cries, shoving 
men off the sidewalks, and indulging in the wildest 
species of Indian yells. On the south side of Geary 
street, above Powell, was a Chinese wash-house, with 
large glass windows and doors. In five minutes after 
these wretches rushed into the place the establishment 
was completely gutted ; every pane of glass was broken, 
the doors wrenched from their hinges ; the clothing 
which had just been washed, trampled under foot, and 
every article of every description broken to pieces. The 
inmates, apprised of their danger, [had already fled and 
thus saved themselves. There can be no reasonable 
doubt that they would have been murdered had they 
remained. Another wash-house on Post street, near 
Taylor, was similarly treated, and one of the proprietors 
was beaten badly on the street. 

An attack was made on Gibson Chinese Mission, 916 
Washington street, and stones were hurled at the 
windows. 



420 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

A Chinese wash-house on Pacific street, near Mason, 
was attacked ; another on Geary street, near Jones ; and 
numerous others in various parts of the city were com- 
pletely demolished by the mob of hoodlums. The wash- 
house at 506 Post street was assailed, and the adjoining 
plumber's store at 508, owned by Kearny Bros., was 
broken into, the mob arming themselves with brass 
implements in the windows and on the shelves. 

Some Chinamen, fleeing from an attack on their 
premises, and closely pursued by a mob, took refuge in 
the grocery store at the northeast corner of Turk and 
Leavenworth streets, and the crowd following, took 
possession of the store, and turned their attention from 
the Chinese to the liquors, and plundered the place 
before they left it. The grocery belonged to Mr. Do- 
lan. 

Local Officer Page had a T novel adventure on Mark 
street. He arrested a turbulent fellow in the outskirts 
of the crowd at the new City Hall, and started to take 
him in, when a gang surrounded him and stole his pistol 
from his overcoat pocket, and forced his prisoner away. 
The crowd followed down Sixth street, and Page was 
assisted out of his scrape by the arrival of detectives 
Jones and Coffey, who, by a little strategy, got the 
crowd off on a wrong scent at Market and Eddy streets. 

It is estimated that the damage to Chinese wash- 
houses, and other property, will amount to twenty 
thousand dollars. 

A policeman was struck on the head with a stone 
thrown from a crowd on Kearny street. 

The sidewalk in front of several wash-houses in the 
North Beach district looked like a bed of cobble stones. 



421 

In every instance the police acted with the utmost 
promptness and resolution, and were posted in every 
part of the town, with a strong reserve at the City Hall, 
and their presence in good force had a wholesome effect 
in checking the perverse elements in the crowds. The 
entire department was on duty under Chief Ellis, 
assisted by Captains Lee, Stone, Short, Douglass, Baker, 
and a number of Sergeants. It was observable that the 
hoodlums, from fifteen to twenty, were conspicuous in 
violent demonstrations. About half-past eleven a pro- 
cession of about two hundred passed down Post street 
from Stockton, and thence by Geary to Market, and 
dispersed in the direction of Tar Flat. Their cry was, 
" We aint no slaves, are we Bill?" 

No serious casualities to Chinamen were reported. 
They prudently kept out of the way. 

After the rioters had become tired of gutting wash- 
houses they started for Chinatown, continually yelling. 
Long before the police authorities had been notified of 
what was going on, and a number of special officers 
were sworn in to assist the regulars. Captains Douglass 
and Short, with twenty-eight men, marched to the 
corner of California and Dupont streets, while Sergeant 
Harmon, with twenty-four men, took post at the corner 
of California and Stockton streets. The rioters, their 
numbers now swelled into thousands by all classes of 
people, the majority of whom went along with them 
out of mere curiosity, entered Dupont street from Sut- 
ter, and rushed along toward Chinatown. A wash-house 
was encountered on the east side of the street, north of 
Bush, and it quickly presented the appearance of an 
exploded powder mill. 



422 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

The advance, composed entirely of the worst element, 
was stopped at California street by Captain Douglass 
and h\sj)OSse. An order to charge up the hill was given, 
and in a brief time the police force was among the 
rioters making a vigorous application of their clubs. 
The assault was successful, and the hoodlums fled in all 
directions. The dispersion was complete for the night. 

Quiet was restored on the 26th, but the situation was 
threatening. The only man killed in the riot of the 
25th, was Herman Gudewell, teller in the London and 
San Francisco Bank. Several others were dangerously 
wounded on both sides. 

During the following day, there was a stream of. 
citizens pouring into the rooms of the Committee of ' 
Safety, and the available force at the disposal of the 
Committee, was doubled or tripled. 

An appeal was addressed by William T. Coleman, 
President of the Committee, to the workingmen, calling 
upon them to aid in the suppression of the riot. Invita- 
tions were distributed by the Committee among all 
good citizens, inviting them to attend the meeting of 
the Committee at Horticultural Hall, in the evening of ■ 
the 26th. 

Resolutions were drawn up by the Committee of Ten, 
of the People's Reform and Anti-Chinese Party, and 
introduced at the convention which met at Crusader's 
Hall, repudiating any connection with the rioters, and 
pledging the convention to assist the authorities in the 
preservation of order. 

The Committee of Safety and municipal authorities, 
conferred with Admiral Murray on the 26th, and the 
result was the Pensacola was anchored in the stream, i 



423 

opposite the Pacific Mail dock, and the Lackawanna 
took up a position at the foot of Market street. Admiral 
Murray stated that he was prepared to land a force of 
marines and blue jackets with Gatling guns, in case of a 
riot. The position of the Pensacola enabled her to 
sweep away any mob which would gather at the mail 
dock. 

Ex-soldiers of the Union and Confederate armies met 
in the afternoon, in the Horticultural Hall,' to effect an 
-organization of companies and regiments, and arms and 
.ammunition were received. 

Mayor Bryant, of San Francisco, issued a proclamation 
in which he said : 

That lawless and atrocious acts of the vicious and crim- 
inal classes in the community had been committed which 
compelled him for the last time, to warn all good citizens 
against appearing on the street in large numbers or 
groups. The object of this caution was, that the innocent 
might not suffer, and that the street and public places 
might be left free and unobstructed for the operations 
of the poliee, military, and the Committee of Safety, who, 
he was assured, would see that order was maintained at 
all hazards. 

No further leniency was shown the mob, members of 
the Committee of Safety were provided with the most 
approved weapons, and general orders were given to 
shoot down any person caught in the act of demolishing 
property, or interfering to prevent the extinguishment 
of fires. The resistance offered by the hoodlums the 
-preceding night, was the reason for the adoption of 
•harsher measures of punishment. 

A special meeting of the Board of Police Commis- 



424 THE GEEAT STEIEES. 

sioners was held in the afternoon, at which it was deter- 
mined to instruct members of the police force that it 
was their duty to shoot into any crowd which attacked 
them with stones or weapons of any kind. They were 
instructed to take no risks whatever, but on the first 
attack upon them, they were privileged to use their 
pistols. A more careful estimate of the loss by the fire 
on the night of the 25th, showed losses amounting to 
about eighty thousand dollars. 

The casualties by Wednesday night's riot, were as 
follows : Herman Gudewell, Assistant note-teller of the 
London and San Francisco Bank, shot while in charge 
of the vigilants, of which he was a member, died soon 
after; Officers Wilson, Smith and Morehouse, wounded 
by stones, not dangerously ; Officers Parsons and 
Pomroy, pistol shots in head and leg, respectively, not 
serious ; J. K. Conolly, driver of No. 1 hose-cart, shot 
in the leg by a rioter ; Samuel Scronse, on a cart with 
Conolly, was shot by the mob, fireman of No. 3 hose,, 
struck by a stone in the face, and severly hurt ; Joseph 
Wentworth, fatally injured and leg broken ; Henry 
Washer, killed by a hose-cart on Pacific street, near 
Stockton : Thomas Baxter, a boiler maker, shot in 
the chest, near the mail dock, and subsequently died ; 
James Miller, shot in the head while leading in the 
riot; two hoodlums, Kailey and Thompson, shot on 
Rincon Hill, both of whom afterwards died; a rioter 
named Carr, dangerously wounded ; Hayes, another of 
the mob, shot in the knee. A great number of the 
Committee and police were more or less hurt by stones- 
thrown, and many of the rioters were severly clubbed,, 
and it is believed quite a number were wounded by 



425 

pistol shots, whose names and extent of injuries were 
not ascertained. 

The complete preparations made by the authorities had 
a very wholesome effect on the hoodlum element. 

It had been anticipated that some disturbance might 
arise previous to the sailing of the steamer Belgic, for 
Hong Kong, on the 27th of July. But this was averted, 
for while the Chinese passengers were collecting at the 
Mail Dock, a heavy guard was in attendance at the dock, 
and heavy squads patroled streets leading to the locality 
as far as Market street. No demonstration was made. 
About sixty thousand dollars were subscribed to the fund 
of the Committee of Safety. Enlistments were continued 
for some days. The Committee was thoroughly organ- 
ized, and each ward was guarded by its own detachment, 
while a force was held in reserve at the headquarters, 
and all members could be assembled at the tap of the 
bell, in case of necessity. A number of rioters were 
convicted at the Police Court, and sentenced to the full 
extent of the law. Notices were posted all over the 
town, offering a reward of one thousand dollars for the 
arrest and conviction of any person setting fire to prop- 
erty, and two hundred dollars for that of any one cutting 
the posts of the fire department. A number of threat- 
ening notices were received by manufacturers in San 
Francisco and in Oakland city. 

No disturbance, however, took place. The evident 
determination of all classes of the citizens of San Fran- 
cisco to put down the vicious elements, was sufficient to- 
deter even the hoodlums from commission of overt acts 
against the law and the good order of society. San 
Francisco was thus saved from disgrace, and loss of prop- 



426 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

-erty and lives. To this fortunate conclusion, of what at 
one time appeared a formidable danger, was largely due 
to the fidelity of the masses of workingmen. There was 
ii very quiet season after the energetic exhibition of force 
by the authorities and citizens. 

N*. P. Brock, who made an incendiary speech at the 
anti-Coolie meeting of Wednesday evening, July 25th, 
was arrested on the evening of the 29th. 

The steamer City of Tokio, from Hong Kong via 
Yokohama, with a large Chinese passenger list, arrived 
at San Francisco the morning of the 28th. The 
landing took place in the afternoon. A strong force of 
police and the Safety Committee received them. 

The immigrants were placed in wagons, and, escorted 
by guards, moved along Second, Montgomery and Sacra- 
mento streets to the Chinese quarter. There was not the 
slightest disturbance at any time. The crowd at Main 
Dock was no larger than ordinary, and the hoodlum ele- 
ment failed to announce its presence. Crowds attracted 
by curiosity filled the sidewalks along the line of march. 

On the night of the 27th, a company of Safety-men 
were fired on by hoodlums, near Laurel Hill Cemetery. 
The company returned fire, and the assailants took to the 
bush. 

Fire was applied to a Chinese house at San Pablo, near 
Oakland, on the 2Sth, and nine houses were destroyed 
before the flames were subdued. Prominent citizens of 
Oakland and the suburban towns were daily in receipt of; 
threatening letters. 

A Eureka, Nevada, despatch of the 28th, announced • 
that a crowd assembled in the afternoon, and held an in-, 
dignation meeting, expressing themselves bitterly op- 



gAN Francisco's problem:. 427 

posed to the Chinese population, and it was with the 
greatest difficulty that the Deputy Sheriff and several 
special police succeeded in preventing the destruction of 
the Chinese portion of the city of Eureka. 



CHAPTEE XXXI. 



The South and the Strikes. 



All Serene in Dixie — A Slight Ripple in Texas — Speedy Restoration of 
Peaceful Relations — " Old Virginia Never Tires " — Southern Men 
Offer Services to Restore Order in Northern States — The Era of 
Sectional Harmony — Law and Order. 



The South, during the trying days of the strikes, must 
have experienced peculiar feelings. After having incur- 
red the stigma of the champion rebel of American history, 
after having been watched and distrusted for years as the 
great seat of discontent in this country, the unfaithful 
member, whose probable rally to " the lost cause " was 
sure to come or to be imputed at least once in four years 
— after having endured all these things — this black sheep 
in the flock must have experienced peculiar pleasure in 
seeing its federal garrisons stripped to furnish troops to 
take care of the North, to see the President and his Cab- 
inet in daily session, receiving war bulletines from New 
York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh/Chicago, and other centers 
of unlimited loyalty. If humor were a southern quality, 
the impulse of Governor Wade Hampton and Governor 
Nicholls to offer the services of the troops of South Car- 
olina and Louisiana to the President, to put down these 
incendiary Pennsylvanians, would have been irresistible. 
What a strange scene would it have been for Governor 
Hampton to have " marched through Baltimore " in the 
spirit of 1861 ? 



THE SOUTH AND THE STRIKES. 429 

This aspect of the affair illustrates how the times 
invited oblivion of the past, and hurried us on to new 
issues — industrial questions, the restoration of the na- 
tional currency to its true value, the expansion of our 
foreign commerce, the amelioration of the condition of 
the working classes, and the establishment of all the con- 
ditions of national prosperity. 

Touching this point of the working classes, by the 
way, Pennsylvania has a moral responsibility resting on 
her, no whit less than her magnificent material resources. 
Now that the Centennial is over and sufficiently glorified, 
now that the coal ring has collapsed, and the Mollie 
Maguires have been hanged, and Pittsburgh has been 
humiliated in ashes and blood, it is time to appeal to the 
State founded by William Penn, and ask if she is not 
following pretty close after the almighty dollar, and 
sometimes regarding too little how common humanity is 
getting along. Philadelphia, honored as a city of homes, 
may be well enough, but how is it with the miners, how 
is it with other portions of the State ? It is well known 
that the servile and materialistic spirit of the age in 
politics, has so far been imitated by a selfish despotism in 
the coal regions, as to have greatly debased the condition 
of the laborer. There was plenty of very orthodox con- 
servatism in Pennsylvania, and it fulminated a harsh and 
materialistic gospel compared with the sweetness and 
light of Penn's faith and life-long practice. Let liberal 
Pennsylvania, if there be any such, send out a new 
evangel of political and religous freedom and practical 
Christianity to Pennsylvania in bonds, lest the Keystone 
State should turn all to ignoble clay at the base, and to 
sordid gold at the top of her social structure. 



430 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

But the South, at peace within her borders, undis- 
turbed by the spirit of Communism, or the purse-proud 
tyranny of millionnaires, could afford to look on in undis- 
turbed serenity at the scenes of strife and turmoil which 
agitated the North, and furnished a spectacle to the world. 
Her broad cotton fields, and sugar and rice estates, were 
not to be affected by the conflict, and her growing crops 
were meanwhile going on to maturity by the certain un- 
failing laws of nature. But the events in the North 
afforded an opportunity to the Southern people to de- 
monstrate beyond all future controversy, that with them 
the past was indeed " the eternal past," that henceforth 
while our political institutions shall remain, her fortunes 
and her fate, are inseparably bound with those of the great 
American sisterhood of States. 

This complete restoration of good feeling between the 
North and South, was well illustrated in Louisville, 
Kentucky, during the strikes. It was an interesting 
fact attending the outbreak in Louisville, which was at 
once followed by the enrollment of nearly one thousand 
citizens for the protection of the city ; was the service- 
side by side of ex-Federal and ex-Confederate soldiers. Ex- 
Secretary Bristow, for instance, Colonel of one of the 
Federal regiments recruited in Kentucky, stood guard 
with General Basil Duke, John Morgan's most dashing 
Leiutenant, and ex-United States Marshal, Eli H. Murray, 
the youngest Brigadier in the Union Army, commanded 
one of the hastily mustind companies, while Major E. 
A. Richards, who served under General Lee, was one of 
his fellow officers. Hundreds of ex-soldiers of the blue 
and grey stood shoulder to shoulder in the ranks. 

At Louisville, July 23rd, a committee of the Louisville 



THE SOUTH AND THE STRIKES. 431 

and Cincinnati Short Line Railroadmen, appointed a 
committee on Sunday, called on Chancellor Bruce, while 
in open court this morning, and through the attorney of 
the road, according to their instructions, requested that 
the order for a reduction of wages, to take effect from 
the 1st of August, be rescinded, Judge Bruce immediately 
ordered that the circular of Mr. McLeod, making the 
reduction, be withdrawn. The matter did not come be- 
fore Receiver McLeod for the reason that he was out of 
the city, and beyond the reach of the telegraph. An 
official message was telegraphed over the wires of the 
Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad during the 
afternoon of the 23rd. 

To all agents and employes of the Railroad Company 
announcing that in the absence of Receiver McLeod, 
who could not be reached by telegraph, Chancellor 
Bruce in open court, on application of parties, had 
issued an order withdrawing the circular that announced 
a reduction in pay. This telegram was signed by Mr. 
J. E. Reeves, Master of Transportation on that road. 

General satisfaction was shown everywhere over 
Chancellor Brace's, action in rescinding Receiver Mc- 
Leod's reduction in the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lex- 
ington Short Line, and the announcement that the Louis- 
ville and Nashville and Great Southern management 
would not cut down, met with universal satisfaction. 
Governor McCreary had been advised of the feeling 
among railroadmen, on Sunday, and after receiving and 
considering information from all quarters in the State 
where trouble might occur, came to the conclusion that 
there would be no strike. He had prepared the militia 
of the State in case they were needed, but thought there 



432 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

would be no trouble. The reduction orders were all 
rescinded. 

On the 24th of Julv, a committee of workingmen of 
the Louisville, Nashville and Great Southern Railroad, 
appointed to wait on Dr. D. C. Standiford, President, 
and demand the restoration of wages reduced on the 
first of the month, did so. The result was that the road 
agreed to restore the former wages, and the men went 
away apparently satisfied. 

There was no fear of trouble on the Louisville, Cin- 
cinnati and Lexington, as the reduction ordered had been 
rescinded. The Jefferson ville, Madison and Indianapo- 
lis, and Ohio and Mississippi lines, terminating at Louis- 
ville, were refusing freight and passengers. 

In the city, a gang of negro sewermen stopped work, 
and with picks, shovels, hoes, etc., on their shoulders, 
marched through the streets, stopping all other laborers. 
Before night there were several hundreds, including 
some whites. Mayor Jacob issued a proclamation, call- 
ing on them to disperse. All the police were on duty, 
doubly armed, and arms had been ordered from Frank- 
fort Arsenal. There was a determined spirit manifested 
among good citizens to quell the disorder. 

Seven hundred militia, many of them being influen- 
tial and wealthy citizens, were on duty, armed with guns 
and pistols. The police numbered one hundred and 
seven ty-tive. Business houses were closed, and the store- 
keepers were enrolled in the militia. The very worst 
elements were mixed in with the idlers who began the 
troubles. Mayor Jacob had issued orders to trifle with 
none ; to use prompt and effective measures to suppress 
the least indication of violence or talk thereof. 



THE SOUTH AND THE STRIKES. 4:33 

The laboring men of the Louisville and Nashville Kail- 
Toad were not included in the number whose wages were 
raised. They quit work, and so did the moulders and 
workmen generally. 

On the 27th, Louisville remained quiet. The citizen- 
militia were still on active duty. Passenger trains were 
running on schedule time on the Jefferson ville, Madison 
and Indianapolis, and Ohio and Mississippi, Railroads. 
Amicable relations had been established between the 
President and employes of the Louisville and Nashville 
Railroad, where the men had gone to work. There had 
been active movements of the LTnited States infantry. 
Seven companies went to Indianapolis, under the com- 
mand of General Morrow ; five companies and two bat- 
teries to Newport, under General Floyd Jones. Five 
companies remained at Louisville, under General De 
Trobriand. General Ruger, commanding the Depart- 
ment of the South, reached Louisville on the 27th of 
July. 

Judge Connelly F. Trigg sent an order to United 
States Marshal Wheat, at Nashville town, on the 30th, 
instructing him to summon a, posse from that district, to 
protect freight trains running on the St. Louis and South- 
eastern, on the Nashville division, upon which strikers 
still held out. Marshal "Wheat took charge of the South- 
eastern shops that day, and informed the strikers that 
all who wanted to resume work might report for that 
purpose the next morning, and others would have to seek 
employment elsewhere. Any interference with trains 
would subject them to arrest. A posse sufficient to pro- 
tect the running of freight trains, was sworn in, and the 
order of the court was enforced. Disaffected employes 



434 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

held a meeting, and drafted a petition to Judge Trigg, 
setting forth their grievances, and asking a restoration 
of their former wages. This was forwarded to Judge 
Trigg. 

The employes of the Texas Central Railroad, at Cor- 
sicana, struck at noon on the 27th, and no freight trains 
were allowed to pass that point. The strikers were or- 
derly, but determined. Many of them enrolled in the 
special police force, and expressed a determination to 
protect life and property. 

At a conference of train hands at Hearn, on the 27th, 
an agreement was made to prevent the passage of freight 
trains, and that no one should be permitted to interfere 1 
with railroad property until the strikers became satisfied 
that the stoppage of freight trains would not bring the 
Company to terms. 

Employes of the Central road at Houston, held a 
meeting, and a resolution was adopted instructing the 
committee to demand the January standard of wages, 
ten per cent, additional to the rates they were receiving, 
^lso, nine hours' labor per day. 

The employes of the Texas Central road held another 
meeting at Houston, the following morning, and ap- 
pointed a committee to wait on the officers of the road, 
and lay before them their grievances. The committee 
was met by Yice President Jordan, Superintendent 
Swanson, and Secretary Love. After a lengthy confer- 
ence, both sides made concessions, and it was agreed 
that the wages should be restored to the April standard, 
half the increase to take effect August 1, and half Octo- 
ber 1. The committee of employes immediately tele- 
graphed to all points on the road that a satisfactory 



THE SOUTH AND THE STRIKES. 435 

adjustment had been arrived at, and work should be re- 
sumed at once. : 
• The railway troubles in Texas were then confined en- 
tirely to the Texas Pacific road. Freight traffic on that 
road was suspended, but there was no violence. The 
.good behavior of the men, and their claim that they had 
not been paid their wages since March, excited sympathy 
for them. 

The negro 'longshoremen employed at Central Wharf, 
in Galveston, who had been working for thirty cents per 
hour, struck for forty cents, the amount paid white la- 
borers on other wharves. After some little delay their 
demand was good-naturedly acceded to, and they re- 
sumed work. A detachment of police was at the wharf 
to suppress any outbreak, but their services were not 
;required. 

The strike on the Texas Pacific road came to an end 
the morning of the 30th. The Company agreed to pay 
amounts due employes prior to June 1, by August 25, 
and amounts due prior to August 1, by October 1, and 
to make wages uniform with other Texas roads. Train- 
men on the San Antonio road secured an advance of ten 
per cent., to take effect August 1. Shop hands on that 
road accepted the proposition. The men had not struck, 
but would have done so if an advance had not been 
granted. Early in the morning of the 30th, the negro 
laborers employed in reconstructing buildings destroyed 
by the late fire on Market street, organized a strike, and 
marched to the corner of Strand and Twenty-fourth 
streets, where a block of buildings were in course of 
-erection, and induced laborers to quit work. From that 
point the strikers went to the corner of avenue A and 



436 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Twenty-fourth street, arid induced laborers working upon 
a block nearly completed, to join them. They next visi- 
ted the Narrow-gauge Railroad, and gangs engaged in 
ballasting and track-laying on A and Bath avenues 
joining the strikers. Lomis' pickery, Stump's planing 
mill, the San Antonio and Houston freight depot, flour 
mills, and other places were visited, and in most 
instances laborers quit work. The strike was confined 
entirely to unskilled colored laborers. White mechanics 
were working as usual. The movement was without 
leaders, or a common purpose, and whenever it was met 
with firmness, it accomplished nothing. The negroes ap- 
peared to be unable to explain why they struck, or what 
they demanded. The movement was incited by white 
demagogues. A strong detachment of police were keep- 
ing the strikers constantly in view, and any violence to 
persons or property would have been promptly sup- 
pressed. 

There were no strikes in Virginia. The citizens of 
Richmond were justly moved by a keen sense of the ad- 
mirable temper displayed by the railroadmen there, and 
the laboring classes generally. As General Wickham 
said, the workingmen of that city were the first in the 
country to denounce ,the lawlessness which reigned in 
several sister cities. All honor to them. With laborers 
the times were hard. But while wages were low, their 
condition in that respect would compare favorably with 
the financial status of any city in the country, except, 
perhaps, seme municipalities on the Western slope. 

Richmond, compared to New York, showed to the ad- 
vantage of the former, securities were above par, busi- 
ness was increasing in volume, and at a turning of the 



THE SOUTH AND THE STRIKES. 437 

tide that promised to flood with speedy improvement. 
Richmond was bound to be strengthened by her law- 
abiding and dignified attitude before the country. 
While Northern communities were aflame with an ex- 
citement that boded no permanent or transient good, the 
Southern heart beat more normal. While in Northern 
-cities was beheld communism rearing its dragon-head, 
the great centres of the South were u solid " in their de- 
votion to industry, and in their respect for law. 

At New Orleans, July 30th, a committee of the Shoe- 
makers' Benevolent Association called upon the Acting 
Mayor, and stated that when the association attempted 
to hold a meeting they were surprised to find in the hall 
a number of policemen, who requested the society to 
cease all deliberations. The committee stated that they 
had called to ascertain the cause of interference by the 
police. Acting Mayor Dennis replied that for several 
days many rumors had prevailed of meetings of a num- 
ber of societies on Sunday, and in addition he observed 
that the shoemakers were to meet at a building where 
the bakers, by an advertisement, had requested five hun- 
dren men to assemble. Believing, in view of what had 
occurred North, that certain emissaries of the Commun- 
ists might be in the city, and that until the crisis had 
passed, it were better not to agitate the labor question, 
he had directed the Chief of Police to suppress all meet- 
ings, for the time being, in the interests of the whole 
people. Had the shoemakers notified him of the pro- 
posed meeting he would have gladly furnished a suffi- 
cient police force to preserve order, and prevent any in- 
terference from the ruffianly element. If at any future 
day they proposed to meet, and notified him of time and 



4'38 ' THE GREAT STRIKES. 

place, he would take this precaution. The committee 
expressed itself satisfied with this arrangement, and gave 
assurance that the society is on the side of law, and op-; 
posed to any thing which would disturb existing harmo- 
nious relations between labor and capital. 

It was a Southern brain that dictated, and a Southern 
hand that traced the sentiments quoted below. " Call 
you that treason ? "What we need is, first, to correct 
abuses, to remove the cause of reduced wages, and of 
violence, to restore that prosperity which, with good 
management, this country ought always to have, except- 
for the brief period of occasional panic and depression. 
Then we need, instead of meeting violence with vio- 
lence, except in emergency, or providing the imperial: 
machinery for repressing disorder, that unerring, in- 
evitable, and continual application of law which begets 
respect for law. There is no fear of power or respect 
for force which can ever compensate a country for a 
want of that regard for the law which is all powerful at 
all times. It is that intangible but almighty power 
which constrains a people with all the bonds of use and 
custom which they live under, and breathe like an 
atmosphere. Men fear, and love, and revere it. They 
respect it, and never hate it like they do power and the 
military force — the machinery of despotism. They 
would as soon violate the natural law of gravitation 
under which they live, as to violate it. It is that we 
need, not power. It is slow of growth, but it may be 
grown by public opinion, constraining the courts and 
juries, for it is not courts or laws, but the people are re- 
sponsible. Then they demand [that punishment shall 
follow violation of law, as surely as sunrise follows sunr- 



THE SOUTH AND THE STRIKES. *439 

get, as surely as death follows the violation of the 
natural law of gravitation ; then we will need no strong 
arm and have no violence. These are remedies strength- 
ening the blind, savage arm of government, which is 
only to he used in a great emergency, and regularly 
relied on, is no remedy." 



*Twenty-6ix pages are here added to correct the omission in paging the illustrat'ons*. 



CHAPTER XXXIL 



"Minor Developments of the Steikes." 



How a Strike was Averted on the Union Pacific Railroad — Conces- 
sions to the Men — A Settlement at Memphis — Declaration of the 
Supreme Council of the Labor Union, Order of Melakhto — Rights 
and Privileges — Sympathizers with the Strikers — The Engineers 
Brotherhood at Pittsburgh — Views and Opinions. 



Some of the minor incidents of the Great Strike 
about this time, excited an important influence on the 
general course of events. The concessions made by 
railroad companies and other employers, had a salutory 
effect by withdrawing from active interest in the move- 
ment, many thousands of men. In all cases where the 
demands of the men were promptly acceded to, all en- 
thusiasm in behalf of the cause of the strikers at once 
ceased. It is difficult to conceive to what extent the 
spirit of lawlessness might have gone, had the vast num- 
ber of men who made demands, been repelled, as were 
the employes of the Baltimore and Ohio, and Pennsyl- 
vania Eailroads. The course pursued by those managers 
of railroads who made concession, justly entitles them to 
the lasting gratitude of the people of the entire country. 
It was this action of theirs which withdrew a mighty 
force from the cause of the strikers, and perhaps even 
saved the country from a revolution, at least a protracted 
period of mob- rule, anarchy, and bloodshed. They 
strained a point to do what they did, and are entitled to 
the honor which is cheerfully accorded them. 



MINOE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STRIKES. 467 

The situation on the Union Pacific Bailroad from 
Omaha to Ogden, was becoming every day more threat- 
ening. The evening of the 19th, about three hundred 
employes of that road, held a meeting for the purpose of 
discussing the reduction from five to ten per cent, in 
their wages. A committee was appointed to confer 
with Superintendent Clark, and the meeting adjourned 
to Monday night. The night for the meeting arrived. 
By this time, about seven hundred employes of the 
road had come to Omaha, and were present to receive 
the report of the committee. The chairman of the com- 
mittee then rose and stated that they had discharged the 
duty assigned them. They had met Superintendent 
Clark, who had received them in a cordial manner, and 
informed them that the Company had determined to 
rescind the order reducing the wages. The report was 
received with immense satisfaction. Thus was averted 
a strike on the great trans-continental highway, and no 
further trouble was experienced on that road during the 
existence of the strike. 

The Central Council of the Labor League of the 
United States, at a meeting held at Washington the 
afternoon of the 19th, passed a series of resolutions on 
the depressed state of labor throughout the country, and 
the anticipated results to flow therefrom, enjoining cool- 
ness and moderation upon the members of the order, 
and especially warning them, as well as workingmen in 
general, to beware of emissaries, some of whom had en- 
deavored to operate at Washington, by inciting to 
strikes and violence, measures which injure labor in 
general, disturb order, and end in the conviction and 
punishment of the participants therein. The council 



468 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

further resolved that moral agitation is the strength and 
power by which labor can acquire tangible reformation,, 
and that mob violence and riot lead only to anarchy and 
the final destruction of human liberty, and it was better 
to submit to any sort of despotism for the time being, than 
to have no government at all. 

A strike on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad 
was averted by the action of the Railroad Company. 
Dissatisfaction with the wages received had been mani- 
fested for some days. The evening of the 19th was 
^elected as a suitable time to hold a meeting of employes,, 
to give expression to their views and wishes. Accord- 
ingly, the machinists and carpenters of the road met 
quietly and discussed the present condition. The result 
was the drawing up of resolutions, which were placed in 
the hands of a committee, who waited on the master 
mechanic, H. N. Buford, who referred them to Colonel 
C. M. McGhee, manager of the road, upon whom they 
called, at the Peabody Hotel, late in the evening. The 
resolutions were respectfully couched. The machinists 
and carpenters requested that their wages be made the 
same as those paid for the same work by the Mississippi 
and Tennessee, and the Memphis and Louisville roads. 
The cost of living was enumerated, and the careful con- 
sideration of their petition requested. The increase 
asked was in some cases ten cents, in some fifteen cents,, 
and others twenty-five cents per diem. This road was 
not making expenses, and the employes appreciated the 
difficulties under which the management labored. The 
plan had been to keep up the regular force on trains, and 
to reduce fares, so as to throw none out of employment. 

The trainmen presented their needs to Colonel Mc- 



MINOK DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STRIKES. 46 9\ 

Ghee, who agreed to meet his petitioners in conference at 
eleven o'clock the following day. The matter was amic- 
ably adjusted. At noon Colonel McGhee met the com- 
mittee appointed by the employes, and after a free dis- 
cussion and consultation as to the causes of the strike^, 
an arrangement was agreed upon as to rates of wages,, 
which was alike satisfactory to the Railroad Company and 
the employes. There was no further trouble on the- 
Charleston road, and every thing moved along as before 
the appearance of the unpleasantness. 

A convocation of the Supreme Council of the Labor 
Union of the order of Melakhto, for the State of Mis- 
souri was called at St. Louis. This organization is said 
to number more than two hundred thousand in the 
United States. It is a secret society, and has for its- 
object the educational, social, and physical well being of 
the working people. The situation of the country was 
discussed, and the following declaration of rights and 
privileges was issued to the members of the order. 

Every man has a right to determine for himself* 
whether he will' or will not, work for any wages that 
may be offered him. No man has a right to determine 
for another man, whether that other man shall, or shall 
not, work for any wages that may be offered. 

No man has a right to prevent another man from 
doing any work, not noxious to society, and not danger- 
ous to other individuals, which he may think best to do. 

Every man has a right to his own freedom. 
: Every man has a right to act, or not to act, in accord- 
ance with the dictates of his own judgment, and his own 
conscience. 

No man nas a right to interfere with the freedom of 



470 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

another, by dictating either how he shall feel, what ho 
■shall think and say, or what he shall do. 

The foundation of society in this country is freedom, 
and anything except the laws of God, or the laws of the 
land, which interfere with freedom must be suppressed 
and removed. 

The Supreme Council of the Labor Union, O. M., of 
Missouri, solemnly affirms that it is the privilege of all 
men — 

To refrain from labor at any time, even though that 
should result in a complete stagnation in all business. 

That since employers exercise the privilege of closing 
their manufactories, thereby depriving their employes 
of the means of labor, the employes are entitled to the 
privilege of depriving employers of their services at 
any time. 

That it is the privilege of all men to give full expres- 
sion to whatever views they may entertain, and that any 
interference therewith is gross tyranny and should be. 
resisted. 

That it is an unquestioned privilege, appertaining to 
manhood, of laboring men in all departments of human 
industry, to combine together in associations to promote 
the general welfare of their class, as much as it is the 
privilege of capitalists to combine in corporations. 

That statutes formed by several State Legislatures 
and known as conspiracy laws, encroach upon the priv- 
ileges of the people to organize and combine forces. 

That it is the privilege of capital to combine, and no 
less the privilege of labor to combine to resist the power 
■of combined capital, by ail legitimate means. 

That it is the privilege of the people to assemble, arid 



MINOR DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STRIKES. 471 

discuss any subject in their own way, and all municipal 
regulations which trench upon this privilege, should be 
6et aside as unconstitutional, and subversive of popular 
liberty. 

That it is the privilege of this Supreme Counsel of 
the Labor Union, Order Melakhto, to express sympathy 
with the railroad and all other laborers now on strike,, 
and to lend aid and comfort to them so long as they re- 
frain from acts of violence. 

The discussion of the question of cause was taken up 
by all the leading journals of the country. Every one 
had a particular theory, and nearly every one had a 
ready patent remedy for the occurrence of such strikes- 
The following is one of the remedies suggested by one 
of the leading men in the nation, and published at the 
time. Secretary Evarts said but a few days ago, that " if 
we want to sell, we must buy." The laws and treaties 
affecting foreign commerce be changed so as to allow us 
to exchange our products for others. In this, the rail- 
road companies and their people have a common inter- 
est ; and the managers of these companies are to blame 
that they have not forseen trouble and arrested it by 
showing their workmen where lies the true remedy for 
the general depression, and leading them to demand 
needed changes. The country is not really poor ; it is 
suffering because it has too great abundance. One of 
the communistic speakers said, that the great increase 
of labor-saving machinery had not improved, as it ought, 
the condition of the workmen. He was perfectly right ; 
but the workmen themselves are largely to blame for 
this ; they have tolerated a total neglect of foreign com- 
merce, and in the course of time the country has come 



472 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

to a point where it can manufacture more — not much 
more, but yet more than it can consume. The surplus 
"weighs like lead on every branch of industry ; it depres- 
ses prices and disables manufacturers, who find the home 
market overstocked by nine months work in the year, 
and are prevented by plundering laws from selling the 
■surplus abroad. Suppose our wheat farmers could not 
sell their surplus in Europe. They would be utterly 
ruined, no matter how great their crops were. But 
that is precisely the condition of our manufacturers, and 
all interests suffer with them — the railroads of course 
chief of all. The workingmen can easily and quickly 
change all that, but not by striking. Let them demand 
that Congress shall free foreign trade from some of the 
shackles, and they will see a new prosperit}^ rapidly 
springing up, and labor in demand everywhere, we must 
sell our surplus. 

There was one feature that cropped out in the wide- 
spread riots, that was full of meaning, and that was the 
great body of suffering men opposed to any infraction of 
the law. Hungry and naked as they were, they placed 
their brawny bodies between the vicious rabble and those 
who were injuring them. This changed it from the form 
of a strike for wages, to an earnest protest against a cruel 
and wicked national policy, and it was a protest that 
must be heeded. 

The workingmen were only resisting a strike inaugu- 
rated by the officers of the railroads. These had com- 
bined to cut down wages, and the men said, " we will 
not stand the reduction." An idle, vicious rabble took 
advantage of the disorder to steal, burn and rob. The 
injured men interposed and said to the mob, you shall 



MINOR DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STRIKES. 473 

not destroy the property of our employers, however 
much they have wronged us! Their protest was honor- 
able, calm, magnanimous ! In the meantime, tramps 
were multiplying; the hungry, the starving, the naked, 
were daily increasing. This condition of things could 
not be trifled with. It ought to be considered and 
remedied. Men cannot, and will not " grind at the mill 
forever." Even in America, the 'proletariat is becom- 
ing great in numbers, and dangerous in disposition. A 
policy that increases the number of poor, that depresses 
the condition of the working people is unwise, and must 
inevitably end in the destruction of social order and the 
ruin of the country. 

A largely attended meeting of the merchants of 
Evansville, Indiana, met at the Court House in that city, 
on the evening of the 22nd of July, to discuss the situ- 
ation of the country. Mr. Peter Semonin presided. 

Mr. Read explained that in view of the troubles by 
which the country had been invaded, it had been deemed 
•expedient to call the business men of the city together. 
He thought the President ought to be petitioned to con- 
vene Congress immediately, to repeal the resumption act. 
The strike was not an excuse, there was wide-spread dis- 
satisfaction. It was growing worse every day, but they 
had hope of settling the difficulty without bloodshed. 
Men must not die from starvation. They would not sub- 
mit to that. He was opposed to the resumptiou act 
heart and soul. All the people were in the same boat. 
As merchants he declared they would not turn back 
against the working classes for John Sherman. The 
-sooner the bondholders were made acquainted with that 
fact the better for the country. 



474 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

Mr. Williamson moved the appointment of a commit- 
tee of five, to draw up resolutions expressive of the 
sense of the meeting. The committee having performed 
the services assigned them, returned with the following 
declaration and resolutions, which were adopted : 

In view of the disorders existing throughout the coun- 
try, consequent upon the revolt of workingmen against 
the reduction of wages below the cost of comfortable 
living, and that the people of this city may clearly un- 
derstand the relations of the business men of Evans- 
ville towards their fellow citizens, comprising what is 
known as " The Laboring Class," this meeting declares 

1. That the prosperity of business men being directly 
dependent upon well-paid labor, and the happiness and 
prosperity of the masses, it is the interest as it is the 
duty of business men to demand the removal of all 
causes that compel employers to curtail expenses beyond 
a point that makes economy an oppression too grevious 
to be borne. 

2. That business, despite the practice of the greatest 
prudence on the part of employers, has hardly been self- 
sustaining for years'past, and believing, as we do, that 
the cause of this general stagnation in the commercial 
and manufacturing world, is directly traceable to the 
poliy of forced resumption, to be reached through the 
severe contraction of the currency, we respectfully re- 
quest of the administration the cessation of the contrac- 
tion policy, and demand of our Representatives and Sen- 
ators in Congress the unconditional repeal of the resump- 
tion act. 

3. That the bankrupt law be abolished. 

4. That we favor the making of the silver dollar a 
legal tender for all debts. 



MMOR DEVELOPMENTS OP THE STRIKES. 475 

5. That we have every confidence in the good citizen- 
ship of the industrial classes of this community, and we 
pledge ourselves to use every influence at our command 
to secure relief from the evil legislation that has resulted 
so disastrously to the entire people. 

6. That we cordially approve the action of the work- 
ingmen in tendering their services to the Mayor and city 
authorities for the protection of life and property, and 
the preservation of law and order, and that the chairman 
of this meeting be authorized to make a similar tender 
on behalf of the business men of Evansville. 

At Cincinnati, on Monday evening, 22nd of July, 
shortly after the steamer W. P. Thompson had come in 
and began to unload her freight, a swarm of negro roughs 
from the " Yellowhammer " saloon, " Pickett's," the 
" Steamboatman's " saloon, and other extraordinary 
places along the landing, descended upon the Thomp- 
son's crew with drawn pistols and boulders, and ordered 
them to quit work, or strike for higher wages. The 
crew, which consisted of twenty-three men, attempted 
to keep on working ; but their boss, a hard working lit- 
tle roustabout called " Nigger Jack," had to quit in con- 
sequence of being hurt by a boulder, and the mob com- 
menced throwing rocks on board the boat. There must 
have been at least one hundred and fifty or two hundred 
of these fellows, who were not working themselves, and 
wanted, apparently, to keep others from working. There 
were no white tramps, it seems, in the black flock ; and 
the rumor that the idea of the undertaking was organ- 
ized in the u Blazing Stump " does not seem probable. 

The captain had actually anticipated the possibility 
of a row of this kind, because at Pittsburgh the 'long- 



476 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

shoremen had been striking for thirty cents an hour, 
in consequence, he ordered the mate to pay the crew 
twenty-five cents per hour for night work, the old rate 
being twenty cents. The strikers however, made the 
crew demand thirty cents, and compelled them to stop 
work, As the W. P. Thompson had to leave at a very 
early hour, and would lose much more by a few hours 
delay than would suffice to make up the difference in 
wages. The captain stepped on shore and told the 
strikers he was going to pay thirty cents per hour. The 
crowd then became quiet and the work went on. 

Mr. H. C. Lord, one of the oldest and most experi- 
enced railway men in the West, gave his views of the 
railway strikes in a very able and interesting letter to the 
Cincinnati Enquirer, from which we make some extracts. 
They touch the vitals of the whole difficulty. It is well 
known that very many of our roads are in the hands of 
Federal and State courts, whose records show that the 
pay-rolls of the employes are terribly in arrears, while 
they should have been promptly paid, in preference to 
bondholders or any other class of creditors. So they 
are left to the mercy of the small grocers and shop 
keepers, who have furnished them food and raiment 
upon their credit in the corporations, and now the em- 
ploye is refused further credit, and is at the same time 
called on to pay up his back dues, which he cannot do. 
He is alarmed and desperate, and now a further reduc- 
tion in his wages is threatened. Mr. Lord says, further, 
" It is perfectly well known, at least to the railway and 
mercantile community, that while there has been no es- 
sential falling off during the past two years in the num- 
ber of passengers carried on our railroads, nor in the 



MINOR DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STRIKES. 4rT i 

amount of tonnage hauled between the seaboard and our 
Western cities, farms, and prairies, yet the business has 
been done at rates of fare and freight earning no profit 
to the companies, but, on the contrary, involving them in 
daily loss. I venture the assertion that if fair and ju- 
dicious rates of transportation had been fixed, and not 
departed from, nearly every railroad in the country would 
to-day be in a prosperous condition, its men paid up and 
contented, the whole country more prosperous, and not 
a road strike throughout the land. 

" Now, who is to blame for this gross mismanagement ? 
Certainly not the engineers and firemen, nor the brake- 
men, nor the mechanics, nor the section men, and yet 
they are the parties virtually called upon to make up the 
loss. The merchants and manufacturers of the country 
have not enforced these ruinous rates of transportation. 
All they ever need or ask for is uniform rates over all 
competing lines to common points ; and what difference 
has it made to the western farmer whether his wheat, 
corn, and cattle paid twenty cents freight to New York 
or fifty cents, so long as the rates were uniform, and the 
price to the consumer was the original cost of the pro- 
duct, with the actual freight added ? No, the great 
fault lies with the railway managers, who have defied all 
established maxims and rule of correct business pro- 
cedure, who have quarreled among themselves, and in- 
augurated a policy of personal, and local, and corpora- 
tive rivalry and competition, which has been destructive 
of the property they were pledged to protect, and of all 
confidence in railway securities, and they are now striving 
to stem the tide by the practice of a false economy, in 
striking a blow at the wages of over-worked men. while 



478 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

the rates of transportation are not changed. They give 
another turn to the screw upon wages, but make no ef- 
fort to reform themselves. The result is natural, inevit- 
able, and will continue to be as it is as long as the world 
shall stand. Capital and men in power become timid, 
apprehensive, and call upon the State for protection, and 
labor becomes first suspicious, and then mutinous." 

About this time a Buffalo railroad fireman published 
an account of the life and pay of a fireman on the engine 
of the Lake Shore road. An extract will be found in- 
teresting as containing one view of the strikers cause. 
He wrote, " After the last cut down, we firemen received 
one dollar and forty-six cents for running one hundred 
miles, and our division is eighty-eight miles long. Now 
supposing we start out of here early in the morning. We 
get our breakfast here which costs twenty-five cents. At 
Dunkirk we dine, which costs twenty-five cents more, 
and on arriving at Erie we have supper, costing twenty- 
five cents more. Our lodging also costing twenty-five 
cents, making one dollar in all. So that here alone we 
have about forty-six cents left. Now, if we were able to 
run all the time, and make all the trips possible, we would 
clear above board, about twelve dollars per month. 
From this comes washing and other incidentals. This is 
only a bare statement, when in reality there are hundreds 
of cases where the men fall below many a month. A 
month ago a test was made by an unmarried fireman, 
who was well known for his economical habits. Well, 
he ran as often as he could, and made many extra trips, 
and had an unusually good month. It was found at the 
end of the month that he owed fifty cents. 

This man is ready to take the stand and swear to the 



MTNOE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STRIKES. 479 

truth of this fact. Very bright prospects for the future, 
was it not ? The remainder of the employes are as bad 
off in regard to pay, and many of them worse then we are. 

I suppose you think, like all other people, that we are 
a fierce set of fellows, anxious to burn and smash things, 
etc., a set of lions going about seeing what they can 
devour. But all of our men, excepting a few who are 
under the influence of liquor, have decided -to be quiet, 
and make no violent demonstrations whatever. From 
all I can find out none of the acts done here to-day have 
been committed by the strikers, although there may have 
been one or two of the fellows mixed up in some way, 
but as a general rule they are quiet and not a bit warlike. 
W"e are confident of success, as we believe we have the 
sympathy of the people." 

Such are some of the phases of the opinion which pre- 
vailed at the time of the great strikes. They are interest- 
ing now, and will prove more so as the scenes and inci- 
dents of the great strikes become a mere episode in the 
history of our country. They prove, too, that the popular 
sympathies were without doubt with the strikers, but 
not with the vicious rabble that gathered in every city — 
with no other motive than to pillage and burn down 
houses, and committ other deeds of violence. But the 
thieves were not railroad strikers. 

A large amount of jewelry and silverware was found 
in one car, which was distributed with a prodigality that 
would have astonished the legitimate owners. A few 
very fine pictures were found and carried off by persons 
whose appearance indicated a woeful want of aesthetic 
culture. There was no attempt at concealment. Pro- 
perty thus stolen was exhibited as freely as if it had been 



3 

G 
t 

.r> 

u 



480 THE GREAT STRIKES. 

honestly acquired. Men exchanged old boots for new 
ones without hesitation or shame. One person secured 
several silk dress patterns Sunday morning and sold them 
for one dollar and fifty cents each. It was a harvest for 
those who did not know the difference between meum et 
tuum. But it is a fact well attested that these depreda- 
tions were not committed by railroad, or any other 
laborers or artisans as a class, but by the evil disposed of 
all classes. All railroadmen are not honest or perfect 
men, neither are all capitalists, bankers, merchants, 
priests or preachers. Human nature is about the same 
in all classes, and with all conditions of the people. 



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Times of Refr eshing. 

A History of American Revivals, containing a full description 
of the Great Revivals of the past One Hundred and Forty 
Years — Personal Sketches of Eminent Revivalists — Nar- 
ratives and Incidents connected ivith their worh, 
with a thorough discussion of its Philosophy 
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illustrated with fine life-like portraits of Messrs. 
Whitefield, Baker, Finney, Moody, Sankey, Maj. Whittle, 
P. P. Bliss, Hammond, Rev Joseph Cook, Francis Murphy 
and Miss Frances E. Williard. 

By Rev. CHARLES L. THOMPSON, D. D. 

Editor of '"■The Interior" Chicago, III. 

TIESTXBffllOIifirXAIjrrs s 

It will be a powerful stimulas to increased prayer and effort, 

W. Henry Green, D. D., LL. D., Princeton College, N. J. 
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Includes one of the most profoundly important spheres of investigation open to man, 

Henky Ward Beecher. 
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You will do great good, and the Church will thank you, 

Z. M. Humphrey, D. D., Lane Seminary, O. 
A clearer and better record of revivals, than any we now possess, 

Washington Gladden, D. D., Springfield, Mass. 
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